Our Past Hopes And Search For The Future
by Liza Taylor
Summary: She knew she had to be strong. She was the leader of the First Unit. She must not show any weakness, no pain, everyone was counting on her. However this facade can't be held forever... SomaXFemale Player Character. Post God Eater Burst storyline.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my first long God Eater fic. ^-^ Really happy that I can write more SomaXFemale Player Character stuff(so sad that there isn't much for this pairing. ): ). Anyway, this story happens after the end of the game. Player character is based off the one I used while playing the game. So, enjoy! **

* * *

><p>Aria stretched her arms over her head before running her fingers through her shoulder length black hair. Beside her in the helicopter were Alisa and Sakuya. It was a girls day out, God Eater style. Which meant fighting Aragami in the City of Mercy.<p>

"I can't believe my first day back we end up having to fight three Vajras. I think Tsubaki assigned it to us on purpose," sighed Sakuya.

"Oh Tsubaki wouldn't do anything like that," protested Alisa. "She seemed to have a lot of fun at the wedding so she cannot be that angry with you."

"Might have gotten a bit too drunk though near the end," Aria pointed out.

Sakuya shook her head. "Don't remind me. I really thought she was going to wear the cake as a hat…"

Alisa and Aria shared a look. What many didn't know was that Aria had a picture of that scene. Alisa was the only other one with a copy. Tsubaki would kill them if she found out.

"But anyway, how was your honeymoon?" asked Alisa. "You two have fun?"

Aria grinned. "You guys did some naughty things right?"

"A….Aria!" protested Sakuya. "A girl should not talk like that!"

Aria shrugged and looked away with an innocent look on her face. "I have no idea what you mean."

Sakuya rolled her eyes. "You two are going to make the driver feel awkward."

Aria glanced over at the front of the helicopter. The guy was fully focused on driving the chopper but he would look back at the girls now and then. At least until he caught Aria staring at him.

"You guys went to the mainland right?" asked Alisa. "Hung out by the beach?"

Sakuya crossed her legs and nodded. Despite being a married woman she still wore the same outfit. Some things just never changed no matter what. "Yes, it was nice. We couldn't go in the water though. The area was very, very light on the Aragami, only small species and they were more afraid of humans than anything else."

"Well it sucks then you two only got a week. Aren't honeymoons supposed to last a lot longer?" Alisa looked at Aria for confirmation but Aria just shrugged. It wasn't like she knew much about this kind of stuff either.

Sakuya lightly touched her armlet. "Yes, that would be nice but we both have a job to do here." She smiled at her fellow God Eaters. "Both of us did not want to leave you guys fighting with us."

Aria grinned. "You just missed us, right?"

Sakuya laughed. "Yes, that's it." She turned to Aria. "I need to thank you though, for writing that letter to let us have a week for a honeymoon. It's hard to get more than a couple days off in one sitting around here."

Aria shrugged. "It was no big deal. I'm just glad I could have helped out." After stopping the Devouring Apocalypse and getting Lindow back, she was on a good track record for the branch. There were more than happy than to listen to her request to let members of the First Unit get a week long vacation. Well, it might also have something to do with how she wrote in that Lindow needed to recover in an area without many dangerous Aragami around. A little fibbing never hurt anyone right?

"Girls, we're here," the driver announced as the helicopter landed.

"Thanks!" called Aria as the three girls stepped out.

They entered the den to see that Lindow had returned from training the new New-Types. Both Fredrico and Annette had happy smiles on their faces; obviously the training has gone well. Lindow's face lit up when he spotted Sakuya.

He met her halfway and embraced her in a tight hug and a peck on the lips. "So how was your first day back on the job?"

"Same old, same old," replied Sakuya with a laugh. She looked back at Aria. "Our fearless Leader made _sure_ it was the same as always."

"Hey now, when you say it like that, you make me sound like a demon," protested Aria.

"Well remember that time we fought that one Sariel?" Alisa pointed out.

"Or the time we fought that Sekhmet at the temple," added Sakuya.

"Or the time you fought the Corrosive Hannibal with me," put in Lindow.

"There was that time when you went on a mission with us and you got really intense while fighting a _Quadriga_**. **Remember that Fredrico?" spoke up Annette.

"You guys," protested Aria. She played with the ties of her dark brown hoodie. She never went into battle without it. At this moment she wanted to cover her face with the hood of it, a very Soma thing to do now that she was thinking about it.

"What're you guys talking about? I want in!" Kota's voice rang through the den as he walked in.

Right behind him was Soma along with Tatsumi and Kannon. Aria had "loaned" them out to the Second Unit to help out against a troublesome Chi You that had been poking around the Outer Ghetto.

"We were talking about how our Leader here can be a demon sometimes," said Lindow.

"Oh, you mean like the time she decided to bash that Aether's head in a wall a few time?"

"Really Kota? Really? You too?" Aria gave him an expression of pure betrayal. "I trusted you." She shook her head sadly. "I guess I won't be giving you the Bugarally figurine I found for your birthday."

"Whoa! Hold on a minute!" Kota yelled. "You don't have to do that really. You're a fine leader, not a demon at all on the battlefield. Uh…I'll give you my corn on the cob ration for a week?" He turned to Soma. "Help me out here!"

"You're on your own," Soma grumbled. "I'll be in my room if you need be."

Aria watched his back as he went to the elevator. Although she would never admit it to anyone, she was in love with Soma. She did not know when it happened exactly, she could not pinpoint an exact day, but ever since their first meeting she was intrigued by him. Sure, he had been off-putting at first, pushing everyone away but gradually Aria had broken through his shell. She saw his insecurities, she found out the secrets of his past. Back then she thought she had a chance, at least until Shio appeared.

Shio had changed everything. Aria knew from the way Soma looked at her, from the way Soma cared for the Aragami girl, she knew she didn't have a chance. She was the Leader of the First Unit at that point and she knew she could not be selfish with her emotions. The team was much more important than one individual. She "gave up" in a sense. Even now, with Shio gone, there was no way Aria was going to tell him how she felt. It would ruin their relationship, it would cause a rift in the team. Overall, there would be much worse consequences than if she was just any normal God Eater.

So even now she kept quiet. Watching from afar was fine. Being there when he wanted to have a small chat with her was fine. That was just fine for her.

"You guys will understand when you get someone you love," Sakuya's voice pulled Aria out of her thoughts.

The conversation seemed to have moved on without her.

"I can imagine. You two are just so cute together," said Alisa.

"I wonder which one of you lovebirds will end up hitched next." Lindow looked at every person in front of him in turn. A twinkle was in his eye, obviously he was trying to stir up some mischief.

"The next one will be me!" Tatsumi raced down the steps. "Hey Hibari, want to have dinner together tonight?"

"Oh ummm, I'll need to check my schedule," Hibari replied quickly.

"Oh Tatsumi," sighed Kannon.

"You need to give him credit for being tenacious," Aria pointed out.

Tatsumi returned with a downcast look on his face. "She's busy tonight, going out with other operators…"

"Don't worry, you'll get it someday," laughed Lindow.

* * *

><p>A couple of days later Aria was in the Den waiting for Hibari to assign her to a mission. The attacks by the stronger Aragami had lessened recently so the First Unit hadn't been mobilized as much together. Most of the time it was just routine missions, fight a few Ogretails, clean up some Zygotes. A few had come in to fight Chi Yous and Kongous but not many. The Unit had spent time helping out the other Units with their missions.<p>

"There doesn't seem to be much…" commented Hibari. "Oh, Tatsumi, Brendan and Kota are going to clean up some small Aragami that were found in the residential district, you okay with helping out with that?"

Aria nodded. "That's fine." Normally she would not have minded spending a day or two in the Den. As a Unit leader, she loved having time to pour over the notes on the various Aragami to figure out new battle strategies but that combined with Dr. Sakaki's random experiments to try to figure out how her resonance worked, it was nice to get out into the field again.

Hibari nodded. "They should be heading for the chopper now, I'll tell them you are on your way over."

"Thanks Hibari."

Aria made it to the chopper just before it was about to take off. "Well we haven't been on a mission together in a while," Kota said cheerfully.

"Yeah," agreed Aria. "It seems like the First Unit has been assimilated into the other Units," she laughed.

"Hey now, we appreciate you guys taking the time to help us out," spoke up Brendan.

"You can't always be fighting Arda Novas and Hannibals," laughed Tatsumi. His expression turned serious. "Alright, so the area we're entering is a residential area. Kota, Aria, I know you two don't usually fight in places such as this so I'm saying be careful in how you swing your sword and fire your guns. The people living there should have been evacuated but there might be a few stragglers around. Don't go destroying the houses too if you can help it."

"Got it." Aria's brow furrowed like it always did when she was entering her tactician mode. "And it was just some Ogretails and some Zygotes right?"

"There was also some Cocoon Maidens spotted as well." Tatsumi handed the survey report to Aria. "They shouldn't be a problem as they are on the north end."

"The Ogretails and Zygotes seem to be congregating more in the South." Aria frowned. "That's the direction evacuated were sent right? I'm guessing they are smelling them."

"Thankfully it's only a bunch of low leveled ones. If it was a Kongou we should have been there hours before," said Brendan.

"So what's the plan?" asked Kota. "Go in there and shoot them up?"

"I think that's the gist of it," laughed Aria. She handed the notes back to Tatsumi. "I say it would be best to focus our attacks on the Ogretails and Zygotes first. Probably the Zygotes. They are quick little buggers and we don't want them to get past us. Ogretails are a bit slower so we have more time to take them out before they cause any trouble. One of us can go North and take care of the Cocoon Maidens so we aren't wasting any time…" She trailed off as she realized something. "Ack! Sorry Tatsumi. This is your gig."

Tatsumi laughed and gestured with his hand that it was fine. "You are our demon of the battlefield. I trust your decision. Plus I was thinking of something similar."

"I really wish everyone would stop using that nickname," Aria sighed.

"We're right overhead!" yelled the driver.

The four God Eaters got to their feet and picked up their God Arcs. Aria rested her Laoyang sword on her shoulder as the door was opened. A blast of wind pushed Aria back but she grabbed the handle by the door to avoid being blown backwards.

"I count five Ogretails and four Zygotes below."

"I'll head North and take care of the Cocoon Maidens," offered Bredan.

"There are probably more nearby so be careful," said Tatsumi.

"Don't any of you dare give up on living!" ordered Aria before she jumped out of the chopper. She positioned her sword in front of her, the blade transforming into a huge jaw. The Ogretail didn't see her coming as she landed on it, the jaw devouring the Ogretail's oracle cells.

The small fry were no match for her. Her blade tore through them like they were butter. And not the kind that the dining hall sometimes served.

Kota was behind her, firing his bullets at the Zygotes while Aria focused more on the Ogretails. She could sense Tatsumi next to her doing the same. Thankfully they were simple Aragami. She had no idea how to fight bigger ones without causing too much of a mess.

* * *

><p>As fast as it had begun, it was over. Kota put down his gun after another quick survey of the site. Like always, the lower ranking Aragami were no match for members of the First Unit!<p>

"That has to the record for the shortest mission ever," said Kota with a laugh. "Maybe I should start helping out the Second Unit more often."

"But then we won't get to fight Ouroboros together and what's the fun in that?" laughed Aria.

Kota stared at Aria in mock-horror.

"I'm going to go help Brendan out. It seems like there were more Cocoon Maidens there than what was estimated."

"You want us to come and help?" offered Aria.

"Let the Second Unit have some of the credit," laughed Tatsumi before he took off. "I've already radioed in that it is safe for the evacuated to come back. Maybe stay here and make sure everything is okay?"

"We can do that," said Aria.

Kota was impressed with how efficient the Defense Squad was. Sure he had helped them out now and then but that was usually missions outside of the Outer Ghetto. Kota made a note to buy the members of the Defense Squad drinks or something at a later date.

"Come on Kota, let's go see if everything's alright." Aria and Kota began walking up and down the streets. Already people were trickling back in and going about their daily business. Kota remembered doing the same thing when he wasn't a God Eater too. It was a rough time back then.

"I hope Mom and Nozomi don't have to deal with a situation like this ever again," said Kota. "After that one Aragami attack…" He shook his head as he thought of the many emotions that had torn through him when he heard E-26 had been attacked. He couldn't do anything about it either as he had his own missions to do and had to rely on the Defense Squads.

"Don't worry." Aria patted her friend's shoulder. "The Aragami Wall is stronger now. Those probably just got in before it was fixed and kept low…." She frowned as they reached the edge of the Ghetto and was met with the Anti-Aragami wall. "Wait a moment…" She looked around the area with the frown on her face.

"Hey Aria? What's up?" She had the look she got when they were about to be ambushed by a bunch of Aragami. He looked around nervously and cocked his gun at the ready. Well if anything was around, he would blast it out of the sky!

"Kota? What section of the residential district are we in?"

"Huh?" Kota stared at her dumbstruck. It wasn't like her to ask a question like that.

"I was too busy reading the reports of the Aragami and didn't pay attention to the section. What section are we in?"

"A-2? Why do you ask?"

Aria stiffened for a moment but then relaxed. "Oh…A-2 huh…"

"Hey Aria, what's wrong?" Was there something wrong with A-2? Kota tried to think over everything he knew about it but nothing came to mind. This was just like any old section of the Outer Ghetto. Nothing important or special happened here.

Aria shook her head and smiled. "It's nothing. Should we go back and wait for the chopper? Brendan and Tatsumi should be done soon. We can watch some Bugarally when we get back."

Kota's face lit up. "Yeah! Let's do that!"

The two turned to head back to where the chopper had dropped them off. They didn't get very far as a voice echoed from behind them.

"Aria? Aria? Is that you?"

The two God Eaters turned to see a young woman run over to them. Her dark brown hair was tied back in a ponytail and it bobbed back and forth as she ran over.

"Aria! It is you!"

"Ayame…" whispered Aria.

"I can't believe it, I haven't seen you in forever! How have you been?" She gasped as her eyes took in Aria's God Arc. "You are a God Eater after all! I'm so happy for you!"

"Uh Aria?" asked Kota in shock. He looked back and forth between the two girls as his brain tried to process what was going on in front of him. Aria knew someone from A-2? How?

"Oh, right. Uh, Ayame, this is Kota. He's one of my fellow God Eaters. Kota, this is Ayame…"

Ayame gave Kota a bright smiles "Nice to meet you Kota. I hope Aria has not been much of a bother."

"Oh she's not been a bother at all," Kota said quickly. "In fact she is-"

"That's enough Kota," Aria put in. She turned back to Ayame. "How are the others doing? Fine?"

Ayame nodded. "Somewhat I guess. We're all still around so that's a good thing I would say."

"Ayame! What are you doing over there?"

Ayame turned to the voice. "Jun! Jun, look who it is! It's Aria! She's a God Eater!"

Kota spotted a young man by one of the houses. He was leaning against a wall with arms crossed. He glared at Aria and Kota for a few seconds before turning away. "Come on Ayame, we need to check on our place. Got to make sure the _God Eaters_ didn't mess it up this time."

"Oh come on Jun, don't be like that!" protested Ayame.

"It's fine, don't worry about it, you go on ahead, we need to head back to the Den soon as well," put in Aria.

"Well I'll tell the others that you stopped by, I'm sure they would love to hear about it," said Ayame. She dipped her head slightly to Kota. "It was nice meeting you."

"Oh, it was nice meeting you too."

"Come on, let's go Kota."

Kota gave one last look at the retreating Ayame before following his leader. Questions were on the tip of his tongue but as he stared at Aria's back, he did not want to voice them.

* * *

><p>Soma plopped his meal down at the table before he sat down with the other members of the First Unit, minus Aria. He used to always take his meals in his room as to avoid having to deal with other people. He did not enjoy the words people said about him behind his back. However, after that idiot had ended up as First Unit's leader it seemed like the First Unit had changed and in turn she had affected everyone else at the branch as well. Now people at the Branch did not see him as a monster anymore, more like one of the stronger members of the First Unit.<p>

"Aria said she's going to be coming down later. She was finishing up the report from today's mission," said Kota.

"Wasn't today's mission Tatsumi's?" asked Alisa. "Why is she writing the report instead of him?"

"She insisted on doing it when we were in the helicopter on the way back," replied Kota. "Oh but get this, something very _interesting_ happened during today's mission."

"Really?" Sakuya's voice was slow. Not like Soma could blame her. The last time Kota said something was interesting it was because he had found a rock that looked like a bug from that Bugarally show he watched.

"No, I'm serious this time guys!" protested Kota. He glanced around the cafeteria before leaning in closer. "So we were in A-2 right? We were heading back to the pick-up location and this girl came up to Aria. They knew each other! And not even that, there was a guy too. He didn't seem very happy that she was there but she knew both of them."

"Well it would make sense that she would know someone from outside the Den," Lindow pointed out. "I mean, it's not like we all just grew up in the Den…" He glanced over at Soma, who just shrugged. It was the truth, no point in taking offense to it.

"Yeah but that got me thinking." Kota rested his arms on the table, dinner forgotten. "I've never heard Aria talk about them. I mean, I talk about Mom and Nozomi all the time."

"Yes, you do have a point." Alisa tapped her finger against the table. "I've never even seen her take a vacation day to spend time with them either."

"Now that you mention it…" Sakuya frowned. "Lindow, remember when she was first assigned here? How Tsubaki introduced her?"

"No last name…" murmured Lindow. "And none in the records either…"

Soma was not about to contribute to this conversation. However he also felt the same confusion as what the others were probably feeling. She knew about all of their lives but none of them really knew hers before she came to the Den. He couldn't remember any one incident where she slipped up about something about her life before becoming a God Eater.

For some reason, that thought really bothered him.

"Hey guys, why do you all seem like you are deep in thought? Are we talking philosophy or something?" Aria plopped down at the table. "Sorry it took so long, that report ended up taking a bit longer than I thought it would…" She looked around the table. "Why does everyone seem so dark all of a sudden?"

"Uh…Leader…." began Alisa. "Can we ask you something?"

"Sure?" Aria blinked slowly and looked around the table. "Is something wrong? Did something happen?" She was slipping back into leader mode.

"No, nothing like that," put in Kota. "I...uh, I was just telling everyone about what happened today…with Ayame?"

"Oh, Ayame." She relaxed. "You are wondering how I know her? Well, we grew up together. Me, her and a bunch of other kids."

"So you two are sisters?" asked Sakuya.

Aria shook her head. "No, nothing like that. We were all orphans."

Soma almost dropped his spoon. Orphan? She was an orphan? Everyone else at the table seemed to have the same reaction. It wasn't the fact that she was an orphan, heck everyone had some tragedy in their lives, it was the nonchalant way she had said it. Like she was talking about the weather or what they were going to have for dinner.

"Oh my," Alisa ventured in. "You raised yourselves?"

Aria shook her head. "No, Nee-san took care of us. She was older. She raised a bunch of us together." She shrugged. "She was the older sister slash mother for the rest of us."

"'Was'?" whispered Alisa.

Aria nodded. "Well, we don't know what exactly happened to her. She became a God Eater when I was ten. When I was twelve she stopped visiting us." Aria shrugged. "Don't know what happened to her."

"Did you check the records?" asked Lindow. "She might have been transferred to a different branch."

Aria pushed strands of her black hair behind her ear. "I guess I could but, this is going to sound dumb but I never knew her name. None of us did. She was always Nee-san to us. So I couldn't even look her up even now. Anyway, why'd you ask about this anyway Kota?"

"Curiosity I would say," put in Lindow. "I mean we've never heard you talking about them before."

"And you haven't visited them either," put in Sakuya.

"Oh well that's because of Jun." Aria gestured to Kota. "You remember him right? The one that yelled? We had a sort of…falling out when I left to become a God Eater. He is pretty much the leader of the gang in a sense so I felt like it would have been weird to go visit you know? Anyway, doesn't this soup taste funny to you guys?"

"Now that you mention it, it seems to have a weird aftertaste…" said Sakuya.

Soma silently watched as the conversation shifted away from Aria. Was it really that simple? He did not know if he was reading her right but her smile seemed strained. She was playing with the string of her hoodie with a hand. She was engaged in the conversation but it seemed to him, in her eyes, she wanted to leave.

"Soma? Earth to Soma?" Kota waved his hand in front of Soma's face.

Soma blinked. "What was that for?" he snapped.

"You were staring off into space!" If Kota was standing he would have jumped away.

"More like staring at a certain someone," murmured Lindow.

Soma did not like the glint in Lindow's eyes. Aria was staring at him now too, her head tilted slightly to the side. "Is anything wrong Soma?" she asked.

Damn it. Soma stood. "I'm done," he grumbled. He headed for the back to toss the dishes and tray away. He could hear their half-hearted attempts to call him back but they didn't push it further, like always. He took a wide berth around the table as he headed for the elevator. He couldn't figure out why her strained smile just would not leave his head.

"It's none of my business," he growled as he smashed the button for the elevator. But even though he told himself that, why did it still bother him so much?

* * *

><p>Aria collapsed face-down on her bed. She turned her head to stare at the area by her couch. On the shelf that took up the back wall was a collection of photos that spoke of her time here as a God Eater. There was nothing there that even hinted at what her life was like before becoming a God Eater (although they didn't have a camera in the Outer Ghetto).<p>

She had tried to keep everything away from that time from her room to keep it out of her mind but in the end it ended up catching up with her after all.

She remembered how everyone looked at the table when Kota asked her about Ayame. She had answered of course, it would have been weird if she didn't. True, she didn't feel any problem with admitting she was an orphan. It was a common story in this day and age and she didn't remember her real parents. All she could remember was being raised by Nee-san.

Frowning her thoughts shifted to Jun. He looked alright from the glimpse she had of him from afar. "Still angry though," she murmured. She shut her eyes as her thoughts drifted back to the memory of that day…

* * *

><p>"Jun…" Aria looked over at Ayame for support. The girl just nodded and prompted Aria to continue.<p>

Jun was in the middle of weaving a basket-trap out of some branches he had found on the street. Mizuno was sitting nearby, weaving her own basket. Jiro, Shin and a couple of the others were out to see if they could gather anything else for dinner tonight. Despite the fact that most of the kids that were raised by Nee-san were now adults, they still stuck together no matter what. They were family. They also continued to help out the community by taking in any orphan children they found. They didn't want anyone else to live without the feeling of having a family.

_But I am going to break this family apart a little_…

"What's up Aria?" Jun looked up.

Aria took a deep breath and let her emotions fall away. She needed to stay calm no matter what. She needed to be a tactician and guess how Jun was going to react. All of her theories went back to one idea. Not good.

"Aria has something very important to tell you Jun. Please listen to her till the end," said Ayame.

Aria squeezed her sister's hand for a few seconds. Ayame was the only one she told in advance. "Jun. The God Eaters have done another round of tests in the area to find new God Eaters."

"They have huh?" Jun returned to his basket-weaving but he was pulling at the branches harder than before. "Stupid Fenrir, sticking their nose where they do not belong. Always looking for new people to toss into that Organization and then send them off to die."

"Well I've taken the test as well," continued Aria. She noted the clipped edge to Jun's voice.

"Oh?" Jun looked up. "Did they do it because they promised food? Did you actually get any food out of it? We might be able to do that to feed some of the younger ones. Touma is starting his growth spurt so he's always hungry."

Aria shook her head. "The food isn't important here. Jun, I tested positive. And not just for any kind of God Eater but a New-Type."

"A New-Type huh? Interesting name they are coming up with. You just walked out of there right? Laughed in their faces or something?"

"Nee-san was an Old-Type so this is a big deal," put in Ayame.

Aria held up a hand and gestured for Ayame to step away. "Jun, I'm being serious here." She looked around the shabby house. It was one of the bigger ones in A-2 because they had a lot of people who lived under this one roof. It could not compare to the cleanliness and the brightness that the testing room had. She sighed and took in a deep breath. "Jun, I took them up on the offer, I'm going to be a God Eater."

Snap.

The branch Jun was holding broke in half as he stared up at Aria. Mizuno's eyes were wide and the younger girl looked back and forth between Jun and Aria in horror.

"Please Jun," begged Ayame. "This will be good for us. Aria would get paid a lot more as a God Eater, we won't have to worry as much."

"A God Eater!? You want to become a God Eater!?" Jun got to his feet, his basket forgotten. "Aria! You know what the God Eaters did! You saw how Nee-san looked whenever she visited! Remember her last visit before she disappeared for good!?"

Aria shivered as she thought of it. Nee-san had looked a bit out there. She had looked over her shoulder a lot, like she was afraid there was something after her. She had kept the meeting short before disappearing never to return.

"I know Nee-san was like that, but that can't be how it always is. There are some possible side effects with becoming a God Eater, Nee-san probably just had a problem. The technology is better now, I should be fine."

"'Should'!? You are going to base it on the fact that you could be fine!? What about Mizuno? Ayame? Shin? Jiro? Touma? You are just going to abandon them and just run off to become a God Eater?"

"Jun," Aria struggled to keep her voice level and her whole body relaxed. If she got riled up it would only make things worse. "This is better for everyone in the long run."

"Better for you I would say," spat Jun. "You are just going to leave everyone behind like Nee-san. You are going to become a part of that dreaded Organization which will ruin your life and leave everyone else guessing what happened to you!"

"Stop it Jun!" cried Ayame. "You don't have to yell at her like that!"

"Of course I have to! How else am I going to get it through her thick skull?" Jun again gestured to the shabby house. "Aria, you and me, we are considered the leaders of this family. We are the older brother and sister that need to take care of everyone. You have a tactical mind and we need that here. You always have plans and strategies to solve any problem we face. You are just going to leave that all behind?"

"Don't worry…I planned for this," said Aria. "I thought of ideas, and strategies."

"She even wrote a bunch down for us to use while she's busy." Ayame pulled the papers out of her pocket and held them out for Jun to take. Aria had written in her smallest handwriting and used every inch of the paper to write strategies that could help the others out in any crisis.

Jun took the papers from Ayame and looked them over. "You're serious about this," he murmured.

"Yes I am." Aria's voice did not waver. She had a couple of days to think it over. She heard what the Far East Branch had told her. She would be the first New-Type of the Branch. She had strength and abilities the Old-Types didn't have at all. It would be stupid for her to not take this chance.

Jun gritted his teeth. He looked Aria in the eye and ripped the papers in half.

"Jun!" cried Ayame.

"You are not allowed here anymore," Jun said in a dangerous low voice. "I won't let you cause any more suffering for this family."

Aria remembered when Nee-san had not visited for a couple of months. Jun had been upset for weeks, throwing tantrums constantly They were twelve, only children when they were tossed out on their own. They had to become adults to care for the other kids and Aria had adapted faster than Jun did.

"Jun! You can't do that!" cried Ayame.

"Yes Jun, don't do that," echoed Mizuno in her soft voice.

"I made up my mind. Leave." Jun turned his back to her and sat back down to work on his basket weaving. "You will never be allowed back here again."

"Alright," Aria whispered. She turned away and grabbed her pack by the door.

"Aria…"

Aria smiled at Ayame. The girl was only a year younger than Aria but now she reminded Aria of a lost child. "Ayame, you need to step it up now and take care of everyone." She looked at Jun's back and the angry way he stabbed the branches into each other. "Take care of everyone, including Jun."

"Aria…you are really…"

"Jun is the boss around here and you and I both know that."

"You were also a boss as well." Mizuno walked over to Ayame and grasped the older girl's hand like a lifeline. "You're really going?"

Aria ruffled the younger girl's hair. "Yeah I'm going. Say bye to the others for me okay?"

Ayame rubbed her eyes but the tears did not stop pouring. "I…I will…"

Aria gave one last look at Jun's back before she turned and walked out, never looking back.

* * *

><p>True to her word, she never did step foot back in A-2. It wasn't much of a problem since the First Unit was the Assault Squad so she always fighting beyond the Anti-Aragami wall. She had tried to send her first paycheck to them but she didn't do it at the last moment. She knew if Jun got to it first he would rip it up without thinking of the money.<p>

"They seemed okay…" Aria stared up at her ceiling. Ayame looked a little skinner since the last time Aria saw her but Ayame also seemed to be taller as well.

"I hope everyone else is fine as well." Aria got to her feet and walked over to her fridge. She cracked it open but frowned when she saw the lack of drinks in there. Due to the amount of free-time she had recently, she had spent a lot of it in her room going over strategies for fighting stronger Aragami, such as the Venus. That also meant she drank the drinks she stored in her fridge and she kept forgetting about restocking them.

"Guess now's the best time…" She grabbed her wallet and headed for the vending machines just down the hall from her room.

"Hmmm…" She slowly trailed her hand over the many buttons as she tried to calculate which drinks she should buy. Kota and Alisa liked hanging out in her room every once in a while so she should stock up on drinks for them. Thankfully Sakuya and Lindow brought their own beer when they visited so she never needed to worry about that.

"I can get about four of these and about three of these…"

"Are you going to be done sometime today?"

Aria looked up in surprise to see Soma standing behind her. "Oh! Hey Soma." She turned back to the drink machine and then back at him. Did he want to buy something? She stood and stepped to the side. "Go ahead, I'm going to be here for a while, need to restock."

"You need to make them buy their own drinks." He put his money into the machine and pushed a button. "They have money too."

Aria shrugged. "It's easier this way, plus I know Kota is sending a lot of his money to his family and Alisa…well I'm not exactly sure what she does with her paycheck…wait, did you just snicker at me?"

"No," he replied quickly. He tugged the top of his hood to cover more of his face.

"You were," she protested. "Really now Soma, are you just jealous that I don't buy you drinks? Well I would if you actually visited my room like Alisa and Kota!" Actually, now that she was thinking about it, everyone visited her room to hang out but Soma. Well, she had to give him credit for sitting with them during dinner at least. He was getting there, slowly.

"I don't have much to talk about with them," replied Soma. He picked up the can of coffee and opened it.

"Well if you are done with the vending machine, can you please move out of the way?"

Soma shifted to the left and leaned against the wall, sipping away at his coffee as Aria began buying drinks.

"Do you really not trust us?"

Aria almost smacked her head against the machine. "What?" She looked up at Soma.

He shook his head. "It's nothing…"

"That is not nothing!" Aria scrambled to her feet and grabbed the arm of his jacket before he could walk away. "Of course I trust you guys, we all go into battle together." She smiled. "I kinda need to trust you guys."

Soma sighed. "I didn't mean it like that."

Aria crossed her arms. "Then…how did you mean it?"

Soma looked away. "You seem to know about everyone else's past around here and yet we knew nothing about you. You should have seen how Kota and Alisa looked when they realized they really didn't know anything about you, like a bunch of sad little puppies."

Oh. Aria looked back at the vending machine. So that was what this was about. "Well…just for the record, I found out yours by accident really. I didn't know the disk Dr. Sakaki gave me were files about you." She winced. From the way he was glaring at her, it looked like that did nothing to lighten his mood.

She sighed. Soma could be so intense by the weirdest of things. "Well it was more or less, I think I was trying to forget them," she replied. "Jun is the type to hold grudges. I remember one time when a shopkeeper ripped Kimi, she was one of the younger kids, off on some food. I figured that the shopkeeper just did not have enough supplies to go around but Jun took it personally. He banned us from going to that shop again.

"I didn't care about it that much but the younger kids really look up to him. It was best for me to not go back and risk them getting in trouble with him." She paused as she thought of something. "Oh but Jun isn't a bad guy. He's really great when you get to know him, he just seems really prickly at first."

"It sounds like you really miss them."

Aria hoisted the bag of drinks onto her shoulder. "I guess I do but I made up my mind when I made the choice to become a God Eater. I don't regret that decision. Anyway, have a good evening Soma."

* * *

><p>Soma watched as Aria headed back to her room. She had sounded normal when she had talked to him. Again he was hit with how strange that seemed. Again she had spoken like it was the weather or something else that was light and fluffy.<p>

Now that he was thinking about it, he realized that he never had seen her with any sort of sadness. Hell, did she even cry? Even when Shio died, she did not cry. She had looked forlorn, sure, but she had not cried. She had stared him straight in the eye and nodded when Shio had requested to be devoured.

"_Do it for her sake Soma…"_

Her voice had not wavered. No hesitation. He knew if he couldn't do it, she would have done it in his place. "Sometimes I wonder if you are more of a monster than me…" Soma stared at her closed door.

Again he was struck by the weirdness of his actions. He had stepped out because he had heard her in the hallway. Why did he end up coming out here to talk to her? It wasn't the first time he had heard her walking around outside at this time. She was always buying drinks now and then. Why did he come out and talk to her?

He crossed his arms and leaned against the machine. Was he getting that soft? Was he actually worried about her after that talk during dinner? "What the hell is wrong with me?"

The elevator opened and Sakuya and Lindow stepped out. Sakuya's arm was around Lindow's waist while his was around her shoulders.

"Oh? What are you doing out here Soma?" asked Sakuya.

"Huh, it isn't like you to hang out here," commented Lindow.

"Shut up," growled Soma. He tossed the empty can in the garbage before heading back to his room.

* * *

><p>Aria rested her God Arc on her shoulder and stared down at the dead bodies of a Dyaus Pita and a Prithvi Mata. The few days of peace for the First Unit did not last. It was like the Aragami knew and they fought back with a vengeance.<p>

"Good job guys," she said as she turned to her team.

Alisa and Kota nodded to her. Due to the amount of the missions that were being put out, she had split the team up in half with Soma and Sakuya going with Lindow.

"I can't wait to take a hot shower tonight." Alisa fanned herself with a hand. "It's really muggy today. Aren't you roasting in that Aria?"

Aria looked down at her hoodie and shrugged. "Not really? I'm used to fighting in this…"

"That's our Leader, always keeping her cool!" laughed Kota.

Once the trio returned to the Den they were met with a frenzy of activities. Many people were running around carrying blankets and other supplies.

"Whoa…what happened here…" murmured Kota.

"Come on, we'll ask Hibari." Aria made her way through the crowd. She noted there was a lack of God Eaters in the den. "Hey Hibari, what's going on?"

Hibari was furiously typing away on her computer and listing orders through her headset. Tsubaki was next to her with her signature clipboard. She seemed to be furiously writing something down.

"Oh there you are Aria. Your team will be the only one on standby here in the Den."

"The 'only one'?" asked Alisa.

Tsubaki nodded. Her expression softened as she gazed at Aria. "I heard from Lindow that you are from A-2 in the Outer Ghetto."

"Uh…yes?" Dang, that did not take long at all to spread throughout the Den. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

Tsubaki stood straight. "The Anti-Aragami wall around A-2 has been breached. There's a hole in the wall, letting hordes of Aragami in."

Aria could feel her body starting to stiffen at the news and her eyes began to widen. As fast as they came on, she quickly reined in her emotions and shoved them into a corner of herself. This was no time to react in that way.

Alisa and Kota had the emotional reaction she refused to have. "Are the people okay?" asked Alisa. Her hands were pressed against her chest. Her eyes shifted over to Aria and then back to Tsubaki.

"They have been evacuated out of the area," said Tsubaki. "They are going to be living in one of the lower areas of the Den until we can repair the wall."

Kota sighed. "That's good, right Aria? They're probably okay."

Aria smiled and nodded to Kota. However one thing was still bothering her. "What about the rest of the Outer Ghetto? If there's a hole in it…" Out of the corner of her eye she saw Alisa grab Kota's arm to give him support.

"We have been able to keep the Aragami in the A-2 block for now. While the God Eaters are keeping the Aragami at bay, a temporary Anti-Aragami Wall is being put up to keep them out from the rest of the Ghetto until we can get the Wall fixed. However, we must always have a couple God Eaters in the area to keep it safe. The temporary wall will be able to keep back the smaller Aragami but the stronger ones might be able to break it. Dr. Sakaki isn't a hundred percent sure if that is even true so better safe than sorry."

"But why aren't we out there fighting too?" asked Kota. "I mean, with a team like ours, we'll be able to help a lot!"

"You three are on standby in case something else happens. Remember the last time we had no combat personal in the Den?"

Aria could feel Tsubaki's eyes strike daggers at her. "For the record, I did end up bringing Lindow back because that happened," she put in.

Tsubaki shook her head. "I'm always impressed with how you can joke at times like this. Anyway, you three get some rest." She turned back to Hibari. "Catch me up on everything that has happened so far."

Knowing the conversation was over, the three God Eaters headed up the stairs to the small couches.

"Now I know how you must have felt being stuck here all by yourself while everyone was out," sighed Kota. "I don't know how you dealt with it. I just want to go out there and pound all those Aragami into dust."

"For the record I did fight an Aragami," reminded Aria. "Just…not with my own God Arc."

Alisa shook her head and leaned over to grasp Aria's hand. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Aria smiled. "I'm fine Alisa, really." She pulled her hand away just in case resonance occurred between the two of them. Alisa didn't have to know that Aria's stomach had a dull ache to it. She was a God Eater now. She needed to be ready in case she was needed to fight.

"I envy you sometimes," sighed Kota. "You're always so good at focusing on the mission at hand. If it was E-26…"

The three God Eaters looked up as Tsubaki walked over to them.

"Is something wrong?" asked Aria.

"Do we need to be sent out?" asked Alisa.

Tsubaki shook her head and turned to Aria. "Since you are from A-2, I thought I would ask you first. There is a young man causing trouble down in the refugee hold. A lot of angry yelling and what not."

Aria groaned. "Why am I not surprised?" She got to her feet. "I'll take care of it. It's probably Jun."

"Should we come too?" asked Kota.

Aria shook her head. "No I got it. You two stay here in case we need to be sent out. Don't wait for me if it does happen. I'll catch the next chopper."

"Thank you Aria," said Tsubaki. "They are on the warehouse floor."

Aria nodded and took the elevator down. She didn't usually come down here. In fact, now that she was thinking about it, she had never been to the residential area of the Den for non-God Eaters. There was really no point to.

The doors opened and she stepped out. The warehouse was a huge room. Usually there would be boxes and various other things in storage scattered everywhere. It had been cleared out and now there were people everywhere. Some had set up tents with the blankets they were given. There were a couple of Den staff handing out supplies in various parts of the room.

It was easy for Aria to spot Jun (plus it probably helped that the elevator area was on an elevated platform from the rest of the warehouse). He was near the edge of the crowd and, of course, yelling at how this was all caused by the God Eaters negligence of the Anti-Aragami Wall.

"Happy reunion to us," murmured Aria as she hurried down the stairs.

Ayame and Jiro were trying to calm him down but to no avail. Aria didn't know if it was a good thing or not that she didn't spot anyone else from their family there. Oh wait, there was Mizuno at the food handout. She had to smile at that sight. It was just like the time in the Outer Ghetto when the group would split up to take care of the day's chores.

Kimi had returned with a pile of blankets. She put them to the side, out of Jun's direct line of sight and sat down quietly.

"Jun," spoke up Aria. "Please stop."

Jun stopped in mid-tirade and turned his blue eyes to her. It looked like the storm that appeared in them when he was angry did not change from the last time she had seen him.

"Aria!" Ayame sighed in relief.

Jiro nodded to her but he was smiling as well.

Aria wished she had the same amount of confidence in being able to calm Jun down as they thought she did.

Jun crossed his arms and glared at her. "Oh, look who decided to show up, a _God Eater_. What are you going to do, gut me like you do one of those Aragami?"

"Jun, come on now," Aria said softly. "You need to calm down."

"Calm _down_? _Calm down_? You want me to calm down? Really?" He gestured behind him to Kimi. The younger girl jumped but didn't say anything. "I can't calm down. It's because of you God Eaters that Shin did not make it!"

"Jun…what?"

"Shin got attacked by an Aragami when we were escaping," Jiro explained quietly. "He didn't make it and we had to leave him there."

Aria grabbed her emotions and reined them in fast and shoved them to a corner of her mind. Shin was…dead? He was only three years younger than Aria and loved playing practical jokes on everyone. And now he was gone?

"Yeah, Shin did not make it because you God Eaters messed up!" snapped Jun. He smiled but it was by no means happy. "What were you doing? Probably lounging around, enjoying your new life here."

"Jun, please stop," whispered Ayame. "Really Aria, he doesn't mean it."

"Be quiet Ayame," snapped Jun. "I sure as hell do mean it. All you God Eaters do is cause trouble for everyone around here!"

"Jun, I know you're angry," Aria began. She kept her voice steady and low. It would do no good to get riled up. She was still trying to process the fact that Shin was gone in the back of her mind. "But you can't get angry like this, out loud." She gestured to the people around them. "Jun, these people are like you, they have been kicked out of their homes. They want some peace and quiet now to recover from the ordeal so-"

"Oh look at you," Jun crossed his arms. "Look at this, Jiro, Ayame, she's acting the same as before. Always looking out for other people but with that stupid tactician look on her face. It's always been hard to tell what you are thinking when you have that face but I think it's gotten even worse now." He gestured to her armlet. "Pumped you full of drugs right? Having trouble keeping everything straight in your head? Brainwashed you right?" He lowered his voice to a sadistic whisper. "Are you even human right now?"

* * *

><p>Soma followed Lindow and Sakuya into the Den. It was always exhausting being with these two when they weren't actively in combat. It was like those two just couldn't keep their hands off of each other. Out of curiosity he had searched up files about married couples and apparently this was normal behavior. Even more so as God Eaters as one did not know if they would survive another day.<p>

"Whoa, what's going on here?" asked Lindow. Alisa and Kota were sitting on the couches. They both seemed slightly antsy.

"Where's Aria?" asked Sakuya.

Soma looked around but he didn't see the black-haired leader anywhere.

"Well, she went down to where the refugees are," said Alisa. "Apparently one of them was being very loud and rough and Tsubaki wanted her to take care of it."

"She mentioned it was the guy Jun," put in Kota. "I remember seeing him from when Aria and I were in the area and he seemed very mad when he saw her."

"So you're worried about her," Lindow put in. "Well we can go down and check right?"

"But we're on standby in case something happens. Aria told us to stay here," put in Alisa.

"I'll stay up here," offered Sakuya. "The Aragami have mostly been cleared out so now the Defense Squad is handling it by themselves. You guys won't be gone long so I'll call if anything happens." She stretched her arms over her head and cracked a smile. "Plus I could use some time off my feet."

"You're the best Sakuya." Lindow gave her a quick hug and a peck on the lips. "Soma, come on, let's go."

Soma frowned. He did not like how Lindow just lumped him in with everyone else. However from how Kota had described this Jun fellow, he was a bit worried about Aria. Not like he would admit that out loud. "Alright, I'm coming," he murmured.

The four God Eaters were silent as they took the elevator down to the warehouse floor. The doors opened and the first thing Soma heard was a girl's voice yelling, "Don't say that about her Jun! Aria is Aria!"

"What in the world is going on," murmured Lindow. The four God Eaters walked to the edge of the railing that separated the raised platform from the rest of the warehouse. It was easy to spot Aria near the front as she was the only one with a God Eater armlet.

"This seems more like a family quarrel than anything else," said Lindow. "It might be best for us to stay out of it…"

"Really?" spat a young man, was that Jun? "And yet here she is with no emotion on her face." He leaned in close to Aria's face. "Do you even remember Nee-san? Can you remember how she was when she last saw us?"

"Of course I remember Nee-san," Aria said quietly.

Like every time before, Soma was impressed with how Aria could stay calm in situations like this.

"Really? I doubt it," Jun looked away in disgust.

"No, she does," put in the girl next to Aria. "Look! She's wearing the hoodie that Nee-san gave her!"

"I feel like we should help or do something," said Kota. "This is…kinda painful to watch."

"Maybe we should go," suggested Alisa.

Soma had to agree. This was too personal for his taste.

"Oh that's it huh. You want to become like Nee-san? Is that it? Going to disappear in a year or two?" Soma couldn't see Aria's face from his position but Jun didn't seem to like it as he balled his hands into fists. "Stop looking at me with that face. Stop looking at me with pity. We are fine, we are fine without you around."

"Jun…" began Aria.

"Don't you Jun me! I'm sick of it! Always with that look! You always have that same look! Change it for once! Stop it!"

"Jun, you need to calm down," said a young man to Jun's left.

Soma could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. He had a feeling that something was going to happen.

"Jun…"

"I said, don't you _Jun _me!"

Soma saw it in slow motion. Jun lifted his fist. He swung it. Alisa made a choked sound of surprise. He saw Aria stumble back.

He didn't know how he got down there. One second he was standing at the railing, the next, he was on the main floor. His hand gripped the front of Jun's shirt tightly as he slammed the other young man into the wall. He glared at the s.o.b. with pure hatred. Soma had wanted to kill a few humans over the years but this was the first time he ever felt such a rage to someone that was not directly related to something that had happened to him.

Jun struggled for a few seconds. He opened his mouth to retort something but he froze after seeing the rage screaming in Soma's eyes.

"Soma, leave him."

Aria.

Soma ignored her. What should he do first? Punching the guy would probably be the best. What afterwards though?

"_Soma_. Put. Him. Down."

He stiffened and glanced back at Aria. Alisa and Kota were on either side of her. She had one hand to her cheek. It looked like the punch had not even bruised her. Of course her oracle cells would make her tougher than the average human.

Other than her hand on her cheek, she stood straight. Her eyes were dark as she locked eyes with him. "Put him down," she ordered. Her leader voice. It was the one she used out on the battlefield. He had never heard her use that voice in the Den.

Soma gritted his teeth but he released Jun and stepped a few steps back. He gave the pitiful human one last cold stare before he headed for the elevator.

* * *

><p>Well this had become a mess.<p>

Lindow scratched the back of his head with his normal hand as Soma stormed towards the elevator.

"I should get going as well," Aria said quietly. She cracked a small smile at the girl. "See you later Ayame."

The girl nodded and glanced back and forth between Aria and Jun. "Uh yeah, see you later."

Lindow crossed his arms as he watched Alisa and Kota trail after Aria like a couple of ducklings. Both of them glared at Jun when they were sure Aria wasn't looking. It didn't look like she was paying much attention to either of them at all.

"Word of advice around here," began Lindow.

"One of you is still around?" snapped Jun. He was dusting the front of his shirt. "Crazy guy he was." He stared at Lindow's arm. "Well maybe he wasn't the only one."

"Jun, that was really uncalled for," spoke the other male.

Lindow crossed his arms. Oh this guy was a piece of work. "Around here God Eaters are the cream of the crop. We're the ones out there fighting the crazy Aragami to make sure people like you have something to complain about. We all have a pretty thick skin when it comes to barbs against us."

He narrowed his eyes as Jun turned away. "Sergeant Aria of the First Unit. Leader of the Assault Squad."

"Leader?" whispered the girl. Her eyes widen and she looked at the other boy and the girl. "Aria is a leader!?"

"So?" snapped Jun. "That's supposed to mean something?"

"Obviously that means nothing to you but for us here it means everything. She is our strongest God Eater and a New-Type to boot. She has excellent resonance ability and a great tactical mind. She was a crucial part to stopping the Devouring Apocalypse as well as bringing back a God Eater that had lost his way."

"Tsk, there is no point to this."

Lindow flexed his inhuman hand. "Basically she is the one person around here that you do not want to mess with. You will make enemies of every single God Eater stationed here. And if you lay a hand on her again, don't expect her to be able to save you. Unlike Soma I will disregard her order and kill you myself."

Leaving the boy with the words, Lindow headed for the elevator.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the long break in between releasing the first and second chapter. I was doing NaNoWriMo for November so I couldn't focus on writing this. But I'm done with that now so back to writing this story! ^-^**

* * *

><p>Soma stared up at his ceiling from his bed. What the hell was he doing? He stared at his hand. Despite it being an hour since the incident happened he was still pissed off at that Jun fellow. However now that he was thinking about it, she could have blocked the punch. He didn't know the exact way oracle cells affected normal humans but she should have been able to block him without any trouble. Why didn't she?<p>

"Why the hell does this matter?" he groaned. He rested his arm over his eyes. It was so much better being a loner. He never had thoughts like this before. Hell, he never _cared_ about how his other teammates were feeling before she came around.

He heard noises from the hallway. Probably Alisa and Kota. He had heard them earlier go into Aria's room. For a moment he thought of just letting them pass but at the last moment he hopped out of bed and opened his door.

Alisa and Kota looked back at him in surprise.

"Gah, what's up Soma?" asked Kota.

Soma walked down to the hall to wait for the elevator with them. Since Aria's room was on the other end, she would be unable to accidently overhear the conversation.

"How…"He stared at the ground. Saying something like this was so unlike him. "How is she?"

Alisa and Kota exchanged glances. "We're not sure," said Alisa. "She seemed a little dazed until we got to her room."

"It was weird. It was like a switch turned on and she started talking to us like normal. We hung out and stuff but…" Kota shook his head. "It was odd…"

"Yes, I have to agree with Kota, it was odd." Alisa said. "I wanted to perform a resonance with her to get an understanding of her emotions but…" Alisa stared down at her hand and sighed. "Unfortunately I'm not as good at it like she is. I wasn't able to get anything out of it."

The elevator doors silently slid open.

"You should try," suggested Kota. "Maybe you'll be able to figure it out."

Soma crossed his arms. "I doubt it but I will attempt it."

"Good luck," said Alisa.

As the elevator door closed, Soma turned and headed for her room. He stood outside her door and lifted his hand to knock and then dropped it. What the hell was he doing? He was actually doing something Kota said. How in the world did it come to this? He did not like the mixed emotions within him. "Maybe it is better to be a loner…"he murmured.

However he was already here. And right now, in front of her door, he could not get the damned picture of her holding her cheek with her Leader face out of his head. "Damn it," he grumbled as he lifted his hand and knocked on the door. "It's me."

The door slid open. "Hey Soma," said Aria from the couch. There were some opened drinks on the table along with some paperwork. "What's up?" she asked as she began clearing the paperwork. "Tsubaki sent me the files on what was going on in A-2. I'm trying to figure out a good schedule to patrol the area."

"Isn't that Tsubaki's job?" Soma leaned against the frame of her doorway. He had never visited her room before. There was no point to. He didn't have "movie nights" with her like Kota and Alisa did. Apparently members of the Defense Squad came every now and then too. They talked in the cafeteria and other parts of the Den. She had walked into his room a few times but she was out of there as quickly as she had come in.

Aria shrugged. "Yeah maybe. But she wants my second opinion on the matter." She twirled a pen with her fingers. "Although the biggest problem is fixing the wall itself. Dr. Sakaki thinks it would be best to make the piece here in the Den and then just shove it in there once it is ready. Of course keeping the area safe until then is the hard part…"

Soma stared at her. No wonder Kota and Alisa had seemed a bit freaked out. She really was acting like everything was normal.

"Soma…is something wrong? You're staring at me pretty intently there…"

Soma shifted his attention to her eyes. They were a very odd magenta color he realized. Sometimes they seemed more pink, other times more purple. "Why didn't you block it?"

Her eyes shifted down to the papers. "Jun just wanted to vent out his anger. If I blocked it, or dodged it would be no good."

What the hell? Soma's hands tightened into fists. "What the hell does _that_ mean?"

Aria shrugged. "We sparred a lot. It helped both of us keep sharp since we had to take care of everyone else. It might seem weird to you but I'm used to him trying to hit me." She laughed. "I usually hit back too." She touched her cheek. "Although it is a bit shocking that it didn't hurt as much it used to. Fighting Aragami is like a whole different story."

This wasn't the first time he wanted to strangle her. "You know you can trust us right?" he snapped. He remembered how she looked after she had seen the disk with his past on it. She had approached him tentatively but with no pity. She had accepted him for who he was with no questions asked. Why the hell did it take until now for him to realize he truly knew nothing about her?

She tilted her head slightly. "That's a silly question Soma. Of course I trust you guys."

BS. He knew she was lying through her teeth. Did she truly trust them? She obviously trusted them on the battlefield that was for sure. Why did it piss him off so much that she was not opening to him?

"But still, I'm sorry about Jun. He was saying stuff about God Eaters out of line there," she said quietly. "You probably won't believe me but he's a good guy. He's just really stressed right now."

"Stressed? That was stressed?"

"I know, it's weird." She wrapped her finger against the tie of the hoodie. "He was never okay with God Eaters after Nee-san disappeared and then I ended up becoming one too." She shrugged.

How the hell was she talking about this so calmly? "Aria, I'm being serous about what I said before. If you want to talk to any of us, I'm sure anyone here will listen to you."

Again with the head tilt. "Thank you Soma but…"

"I know, I know. I'm leaving now," he ended gruffly before he left her room and headed for his own. For once he wished he was like Lindow and Sakuya and kept beer in his room. He felt like he needed a drink right now.

* * *

><p>Aria let her smile slip away as the door shut behind Soma. She leaned her head against the back of the couch and pressed her hands against her eyes. "Damn it, damn it damn it," she murmured. Keeping to together for that hour Kota and Alisa was here was difficult. A part of her wanted to spill out that she wasn't fine, the fact that Jun had yelled at her had really hurt. The words hurt way more than the punch did.<p>

She was happy with the two had ended up leaving. However, then Soma had to show up soon after they had left. She could tell her words were agitating him. He had probably returned to his room in a huff knowing him. She was not worried though. Things would be fine tomorrow. He was not the type to let emotions cloud his judgment on a mission.

"Damn it Nee-san how did you do this?" She unzipped the hoodie and tossed it on the couch before she collapsed on her bed. "Did you feel like you were breaking apart inside sometimes when everyone kept asking if you were alright but you were still smiling?"

Of course the hoodie didn't answer her. She shut her eyes and remembered the day Nee-san had given it to her.

* * *

><p>Aria had been eleven at the time. Jun had already put himself at the head of the household with Aria as his second. The two were a great team in keeping the family together without Nee-san around. They both knew Nee-san had enough to worry about with her God Eater duties. Since they were the oldest, they had to step up and becoming adults now.<p>

Touma raced into the house. "Nee-san is back! Nee-san is visting!" The seven year old's eyes were bright as he hopped up and down.

Immediately the younger kids scrambled to their feet and ran outside to say hello to Nee-san. Only Jun and Aria were left in the house.

"You think Nee-san feels better this time?" Jun asked quietly.

Aria remembered the last time Nee-san visited. Her eyes had seemed off. They had seemed haunted by something Aria could not see. "She's probably fine. She was just tired last time."

Jun nodded. "You're probably right Aria, you're usually smart about stuff like this."

"Of course I am," Aria puffed out her chest proudly. She got to her feet. "Nee-san probably can't move with all of the kids under feet. I'll help her get in here."

"I'll get her favorite tea ready," said Jun.

Aria's guess was right. Nee-san was only a few feet from the house but the kids were all around her, all asking questions about how she was doing and asked about her time as a God Eater. Aria clapped her hands a few times. "Come on guys, give Nee-san a break. It probably took her a while to get here, don't bombard her with your questions right away. Why don't all of you return to your chores? Nee-san will be here for a while."

Echoes of 'okays' rang up from the children.

"Thanks Aria," said Nee-san.

"No problem," laughed Aria. She ran over to Nee-san's side and hugged the older woman. She frowned. "Nee-san, are you eating? You seem skinner than when you lived here with us."

"Oh, I'm fine Aria, don't worry about me."

Aria frowned as she stared up into Nee-san's eyes. The haunted look was still there but it looked even worse than before. Maybe she was really stressed out? Aria's eyes flickered to the red and silver armlet on Nee-san's right arm. "Nee-san, I'll help you out one day!"

"Uh what?"

"I'll become a God Eater as well and help you out Nee-san! We can fight together!"

Nee-san chuckled and ruffled Aria's hair. "That's sweet of you but that won't be necessary."

Aria's expression fell. Did she really think Aria would be no good at being a God Eater? Sure it seemed like a scary job but she felt like she could do it!

Nee-san's expression softened. "Aria, I did not mean it like that. You…you would be a good God Eater." She nodded. "Yes, I can see that." She unzipped her hoodie and took it off. "Here, a gift from me when you become a God Eater."

Aria's eyes widen to the point of saucers. Nee-san was giving Aria her hoodie? That was one of the first things Nee-san bought with her paycheck. "Nee-san I can't…"

"You will probably put this to better use than me." She shoved the hoodie into Aria's hands. "It's yours now. But be careful, it comes with the responsibility of having to care for your siblings." Nee-san winked.

"I already do that!" Aria clutched the hoodie against her chest. She would take good care of this hoodie and do her best for her siblings! "Oh, Jun is making your favorite tea inside." She grasped Nee-san's hand in her own. It was colder than usual but Aria was just too excited to have Nee-san around again to care. "Come on, come on!"

Nee-san laughed but it didn't have the same 'omph' like it used to. "Alright, alright! I'm coming Aria!"

* * *

><p>True to her word, she had cared for that hoodie. At first, after becoming a God Eater, she had worn the Fenrir uniform. However after her promotion to Leader of the First Unit she felt like she needed any luck she could get. So she pulled out Nee-san's hoodie from the small pack of things she had brought with her from A-2. She had taken the hoodie to Licca who embedded it with oracle cells so it could also be worn in battle.<p>

"And here we are today," she said quietly. She bit her lip as she thought about Shin. "I wasn't able to protect my siblings Nee-san," she whispered. "But I have protected my comrades…that has to count for something…right?"

* * *

><p>The next day, Aria was assigned to a patrol of A-2 along with Fredrico and Annette. The damage done in the area was great. It surprised Aria that the God Eaters were able to keep the Aragami contained in this one area without them spreading out.<p>

"It was a pretty bad fight," admitted Fredrico when Aria asked about it. "Annette and I were to stick with another God Eater at all times."

"I wasn't sure if we were going to make it a few times," sighed Annette. Like always, due to the weight of her hammer she was lagging a few steps behind Fredrico and Aria. "But everyone was fighting with all the strength they could muster. There was no way we could back down."

Aria nodded. She did not want to imagine how bad yesterday's fight was. And yet, here were Fredrico and Annette to help her out with the patrol.

"At least we were able to get a good night's rest," spoke up Fredrico. "Kanon, Gina and Shun were here all night patrolling the area."

"Yeah, that was really rough on them." replied Aria. When the three New-Types had arrived, the three Old-Types had taken the same chopper to return back to the Den. All three of them looked worn out to the point they looked like they were going to fall asleep on their feet.

The three New-Types made it to the Anti-Aragami wall and for the first time Aria got a good look of the hole in the Wall. It was bigger than Aria thought it would be, larger than a Vajra. Thankfully an Ouroboros wouldn't be able to fit in the hole or even a Quadriga.

"I really hope Dr. Sakaki pushes them to get the part done soon," said Annette. "I don't know how long we can do stuff like this…"

"He probably will just threaten them to drink First Love Juice if they don't hurry," replied Aria. Poor Licca.

Aria went closer to the hole and stared at the edges. It looked like there were clean cuts along the edges, like something from a blade. What had caused this? It didn't look like anyone had any idea either. It couldn't have been an Aragami so…what else could it be?

Aria could not think longer on it as she heard a growl come from beyond the Wall. Ogretails were approaching the Wall. She shifted her sword into gun form. "Fredrico, Annette, looks like we have company."

* * *

><p>"So you're with me and Kota for tonight's patrol," informed Lindow as he plopped down next to Soma at the cafeteria table. "I would take a nap before we leave, it's going to be a long night."<p>

"So we're going to have a guy's night out then?" asked Kota from across the table.

"Ugh, I don't want to even know what you will be talking about," said Alisa. "How about we have a girls night tonight?" she asked Sakuya. "Aria should be back by then too."

"Will she even be up for it?" asked Sakuya. "She is going to be patrolling all day."

"She will be okay with it," spoke up Soma. "She isn't the type to say no."

Alisa frowned and looked down at her lunch.

It was a really weird setup Soma had to admit. Usually they did not gather here unless it was dinnertime. And yet here they all were now.

"Was she alright last night?" asked Sakuya. "I heard from Lindow what happened."

Alisa and Kota exchanged glances and then turned to Soma.

"I got nothing either," growled Soma. Did he really expect him to perform a miracle when they couldn't do it?

"She was the same as always," said Kota. "Hey, isn't that the girl from yesterday?"

Soma followed Kota's pointed finger to a girl standing near the elevator. It was the same girl from yesterday, the one that was telling that s.o.b. Jun to calm down. She seemed to looking for something.

"Is she even allowed on this floor?" wondered Alisa.

The girl's eyes settled on the First Unit table and her eyes lit up.

"Woah guys, I think she was looking for us!"

Lindow reached across the table and lightly whacked Kota's head. "Be nice."

Sakuya sipped her drink slowly but she was keeping an eye on her husband.

"Uh…hello," she said softly when she was close enough to talk.

"Hey," replied Kota lightly.

Soma tugged his hood. What in the world did she want? "Aria isn't here," he said gruffly.

"Oh, I know," she said quickly. "I went up to the top floor and asked the lady behind the counter and she said Aria was out patrolling A-2. I wanted to talk to you guys as you are members of her Unit…is that right?" She looked at Lindow for confirmation.

Lindow crossed his arms and nodded. "Yeah, that's true. Huh, unlike that brother of yours, you seemed to listen."

Soma glanced at Lindow. What was he talking about? When did he talk to this girl? When everyone else left?

She smiled and then focused on the group. "Umm, my name is Ayame. I'm one of Aria's younger sisters if you don't remember." She looked down at the ground. "Although…it is probably hard for you guys to forget…"

"What happened wasn't your fault Ayame," said Alisa gently.

"But I'm still sorry for how Jun reacted." Ayame bowed low. "I am very sorry for Jun's actions. He is under a lot of stress right now and his dislike of God Eaters is making everything worse."

Soma crossed his arms. He had a sense of déjà vu from his conversation with Aria. Was that the only way they could justify their brother's actions?

"However that still does not excuse his actions," Ayame said. "Jiro and I are trying to keep him out of trouble so he won't cause problems anymore. I'm still really sorry for what happened."

"Really, it's alright Ayame." Sakuya gave the girl a warm smile. "We are sure you are trying your best."

This conversation was seriously too sappy for Soma's taste. He was about to stand to head back to his room when Ayame said, "I…I am also grateful to you guys for taking care of Aria. I know she can be a bit difficult sometimes."

"Difficult might not be the best way to put it," murmured Lindow.

Soma could tell everyone was thinking of the various times she had ran out on her own and taken matters in her own hands.

"Yeah, Aria is a bit difficult like that," Ayame giggled. Her smile slipped away. "Aria had to grow up quickly after Nee-san stopped visiting. Jun was crying all of the time and all."

I cannot picture that at all," put in Kota.

"So Aria kind of had to become in charge of the group. She's really good at tactical stuff and planning and whatnot but she's really bad at revealing her negative emotions to others. Sadness is the worst. I don't think I remember her even crying or ever appearing sad since then."

"Should you really be telling us this?" asked Lindow.

Ayame shrugged. "Probably not but I saw how you two looked when you were taking Aria away yesterday." Her attention was focused on Kota and Alisa. "I can probably guess how she acted after the initial shock wore off. Happy right? Like everything was fine? That's just her way of handling with things. So, that's why I'm apologizing for her. I'm apologizing for us kids who forced her to grow up faster than she should have."

Soma thought back to the conversation from last night. So that was it? She was just not used to telling others how she felt? That just made that stupid smile of hers seem worse. How did she feel inside after that happened?

"But what can we do?" asked Alisa. "I don't think she's just going to open up and tell us how she feels…"

"I saw we give her time and just be there," replied Sakuya. "I'm sure she will open to us in time. It might just take longer for her than the average person."

Soma did not know if that would be the case. If she was able to hide her emotions from her siblings for years how were they supposed to get through to her?

"Hey," spoke up Kota. "Not to get off topic but since you are Aria's sibling…you have to have embarrassing stories about her right? Like how she was like as a kid?"

Ayame blinked slowly and nodded. "Uh yes. I do remember a couple of things."

Lindow kicked one of the chairs back. "Well then take a seat Ayame, I think we would be very interested in hearing them."

* * *

><p>Aria collapsed on her bed. Her feet were aching after trekking around A-2 for hours. She was used to long missions and whatnot but this was a whole different level for her. At least most of it was spent near the huge hole in the Wall, fighting off the Aragami that were trying to come in. When Lindow, Kota and Soma arrived to take over, Aria was kind of weirded out by the way Lindow and Kota were smiling at her. Soma also wouldn't look her in the eye.<p>

She really wanted to ask them about it but at the same time she felt like it would be opening a can of worms so she left it…for now.

"It's probably nothing," she murmured. Although when she had gotten back Alisa and Sakuya seemed really happy to see her. Like Lindow and Kota they had been grinning as well. Apparently they were going to have a girls night but after seeing how exhausted Aria looked they decided it would be best to postpone it for another time.

She pressed her head against her pillow and immediately fell asleep. She didn't know how long she was asleep when she heard a knocking on her door. Groaning, she rolled over to check the time. Four in the morning?

"I'm sorry to wake you," Tsubaki's muffled voice came through the door.

Aria was awake in an instant. Tsubaki had never visited her in the middle of the night before. She scrambled to her feet and opened her door. "What's wrong? Is someone hurt?"

Despite it being the middle of the night Tsubaki looked as prim and proper as she always did. No, that was not accurate. There were dark circles under her eyes. The God Eaters had a difficult job but she had one as well. She had to coordinate everyone.

Tsubaki crossed her arms. "I'm not usually the type to wake a God Eater that came back from the field a couple hours ago but since this is directly related to you I thought it would be best for you to be informed as soon as possible."

Aria narrowed her eyes. What was going on?

"That boy, the brother of yours has gone missing."

Aria's eyes widen. Jun was missing?

"Usually we would not focus our attention on this but since he is your brother and he doesn't seem to like God Eaters that much I thought it would be best to inform you. He's been missing for almost twenty four hours now. Those other siblings of yours thought he was sulking somewhere to cool off but when he didn't return the girl, Ayame, told Hibari, who, after a scan of the building cameras told me that he was not in the Den. Like I said, normally I would not wake you up for something involving a regular human but…"

"He is my brother despite everything," sighed Aria. Seriously Jun. Did he really have to do something stupid at a time like this?

Tsubaki smiled. "Good. I thought I was going to need to give you the he's-your-family speech but it looks like I do not have to do that."

Aria grinned and nodded. "Don't worry, I won't let him punch me this time." She thought it over for a moment. "Can you spare a chopper? I might have an idea of where he had gone."

Tsubaki nodded. "I'll count this as me doing a favor for you."

"I'll repay you back at some point." Aria grabbed her hoodie from the couch and threw it on. Despite only having a few hours of sleep she was ready to go. Maybe it was how deep she slept or how the oracle cells have affected her body. Either way, she would be fine and hopefully this wouldn't take too long.

The chopper trip was very short, only taking her to Tranquil Temple. "I owe you one!" she told the driver.

He gave her a thumbs up and wished her good luck as she jumped out and landed in the soft snow.

"Aria? Can you hear me?" came Tsubaki's voice from the transmitter.

"Yeah," said Aria.

"There's a herd of Vajratails north of your location."

"Got it." Aria shifted her grip on her God Arc before she took off running. She could hear the Vajratails before she saw them and she slowed to a stop and peered around the corner of one of the abandoned houses. Like she thought, there was Jun, at the base of the main temple. He was gripping some white flowers tightly in his hand. His blue eyes darted around nervously at the pack of Vajratails that were slowly closing in on him.

She thought of firing her gun to attract their attention but that would not mean all of the Vajratails would focus on her. Only a couple might with the smarter ones going after the easier prey. No, her best bet would be to jump in the middle of the fray.

"And this is where everyone else would yell at me if they were here." Aria rolled her eyes. It was just some Vajratails. Nothing too major. She backed up a few steps crouched and jumped. Her hand caught the edge of the roof of the nearest house and she hoisted herself onto it. The roof creaked under her weight but it held. She darted forward and jumped off the other edge with all of her strength as a God Eater.

"Hiyaaaaa!" she yelled as her sword entered transformed a gaping mouth and she devoured the Vajratail closest to her. "Move closer to the inside of the temple!" she ordered Jun before she began swinging.

The beasts were everywhere. She had fought hordes of these guys before but this was different. This group of Vajratails were riled up at the chance of actually being able to eat human prey. They were more vicious than usual. As soon as she took one down another took its place. She did not stop swinging though. There was no chance to rest. She could not retreat to rest. They would just focus on Jun. All she could do was fight. At the moment, that was a-okay with her.

After what seemed like forever, her blade sliced through the last Vajratail. She sucked in a few deep breaths as she stared at the carnage around her. The ones that had been killed in the beginning of the fight were already beginning to disintegrate. Her face and hands felt sticky from the blood. Her clothes, being embedded with oracle cells meant the blood did not stick to it (which made cleaning them so much easier).

Jun was staring at her wide-eyed from the top of the temple steps. "I guessed you wanted to get those for Hana." Aria gestured to the flowers in Jun's hands. "She was always nervous when change happens. You wanted to brew her some tea like I used to. I did teach Ayame how to do it you know. She could have helped."

"We didn't bring any of the herbs with us," Jun replied quietly. "We had to leave them all behind. I heard from some of the workers that this area grew this flower so I went to get some." He stared at the carnage around Aria. "I was not expecting there to be Aragami everywhere…"

"Yeah, once you are no longer behind the Anti-Aragami Wall they tend to be everywhere." Aria hoisted up her sword and rested it on her shoulder. "We do clear them out but since the main focus right now is the hole in A-2, unless it is a high ranked Aragami we are going to leave them alone." She looked around at the bodies around her. "Although it might be a good thing I came out here. There were way more Vajratails gathered here than what would usually be allowed…"

"Aria…why did you come save me?" He looked down at his feet. "I…"

Aria walked up the steps. "You're my brother. Of course the bigger sister needs to come save her little brother."

"Hey, wait a minute, I thought we all agreed that I'm the oldest one."

"Not like we know that for sure." She was right next to Jun now. She tightened her hand into a fist and without warning, punched him in the face. She had controlled the amount of force behind it as she did not know how much damage a punch would do to a human but it would still hurt. "Payback for before."

Jun grinned at her as he rubbed his cheek. "No fair. You do know this is totally going to leave a mark right?" He tested his jaw. "I really thought you broke it for a moment."

"I was trying to control the force behind it." Dang, maybe she had swung too hard.

He sighed. "Damn it, you were holding back? Jeez, we can't spare anymore can we? You will just curb stomp me every time."

Aria shrugged. "Yeah, sorry, side effect of oracle cells. Tends to make you a less squishy human."

Jun's expression fell. "But…you are feeling alright?"

Realizing where he was going with this she nodded. "Yeah, I feel fine though. I'm not tired or anything. Well I am the Leader of the First Unit so that tends to make me tired and all but I don't feel like Nee-san probably did…"

"You look much better than she did…"

"I had been thinking of trying to find her file, the Branch has a record of all God Eaters that used to work there. I could have found her if I looked but…"

Jun nodded. "Ignorance might be bliss in this situation right? Probably better for the kids too. They all think she's on a long vacation."

Aria nodded. "Yeah, that might be for the best." She coughed. "Anyway, shall we head back? I would like to catch a couple more hours of sleep."

He winced. "Yeah sure let's-" His eyes widen. He was looking at a spot behind Aria.

Before he could call out a warning, Aria had turned her head slightly in the direction of the danger. She saw something sharp coming towards her. With her free hand she pushed Jun out of the way and then side stepped to avoid the attack herself. However she underestimated the reach as she felt something slice through her leg.

She gritted her teeth against pain as she whirled to face what it was. A Borg Camlann? How did she not sense it coming though? She froze as she stared at the thing that attacked her. That was no Aragami. It was someone, a human in a cloak that covered the person from head to toe. What drew her eye was the huge blue black sword in the human's hand. A buster blade God Arc.

"What the hell are you doing?" snapped Aria. She thought of switching her sword to gun mode but she was still in range of the figure's God Arc. It might be better for her to have access to her shield. She didn't want to move in case the God Eater went after Jun. "Who are you? Which Branch are you from!?"

The mysterious God Eater did not answer. Instead he lifted his sword high in the air. Aria was barely able to put up her shield in time. She gritted her teeth as the weight of the blade pressed down on her. Her injured leg protested and she was aware of the blood trickling down her leg.

"Jun! Get out of here!" she ordered.

"There is no way in hell I'm leaving you here with Crazy."

"As a God Eater I'm saying you need to go." The figure lifted his arc to swing at her again. Aria switched her blade to gun mode and shot a bullet at the figure. The bullet hit the buster blade, making the God Eater back up a few steps.

Aria pointed her gun at the God Eater. "I will say I will not miss at this range," she said coldly.

For a moment she though the God Eater was going to attempt to attack again but instead the God Eater backed up a few steps before running.

"That's right," snapped Jun. "You run, you coward!"

"Jun, please don't provoke him." Aria bent down and rolled up her pant leg to check the damage on her leg. She heard Jun hiss. She had to agree. It was worse than she thought it was. It hurt like hell too. "Don't worry, this'll heal up pretty fast…" She trailed off when she remembered that she had not brought any recovery pills to speed up her oracle cells. "Okay, I lied. This is going to heal slowly until we get back to the Den and then it will heal quickly."

"Shouldn't we do something about it?" Jun asked nervously. "That's a huge gouge out of your leg!"

"That's why I'm happy that God Eater ran away." Aria sat down and grabbed some of the fallen snow and rubbed it against the wound. She winced at the touch of the cold snow. "I'm usually pretty good in a fight but against a buster blade God Arc with an injured leg? Even with being able to use a gun as well as a blade, it was not good odds."

"Here." Jun pulled his knife out of his pocket and handed it to her.

She took it with a silent thanks and used it to cut the fabric of her pants to use it for a makeshift bandage.

"But you have no idea who that was?"

Aria shook her head. "Nope. I didn't recognize the sword either. It's not a God Eater from the Far East Branch, and that's barring the fact that a God Eater attacked us. I swear that does not happen often."

"Somehow I can believe that one." Jun shook his head. "Are you sure you're okay though?" He held out a hand.

"Fine, fine, it's just a scratch." She took his hand and got to her feet. She tested her weight on the leg. It hurt like hell but it was bearable. "I'll call the chopper. We need to head back. I need to inform the others about this."

* * *

><p>Jun followed Aria into the Den. Despite the fact that she had a piece of her leg torn out she insisted on walking by herself. It was nice to see that her tenacity had not changed. Although was it good or bad in the situation, he could not tell.<p>

"There you are. I thought we were going to need to send a search party to go after you." A woman wearing very revealing clothing approached them. He noticed Aria straightened slightly.

"Oh come on Tsubaki, you know me. Nothing can keep me away from this Den for long."

"I know, that's why we need to beg you to use your vacation days."

"Well, well, what's going on here?"

Jun turned and stiffened. It was the man with the weird red arm. Behind him were two guys. One was the guy that comforted Aria when Jun had punched her( which he sorely regretted right now) while the other was the guy that had slammed Jun against the wall for it.

The guy's eyes locked on Jun and his glare intensified.

"I'm sorry for causing trouble," Jun said quietly. He could still picture Aria fighting off those Vajratail. She had looked like a warrior from a fairytale as she fought. He knew she would have retreated to recoup her strength instead of fighting all of those monsters at once. She hadn't though. It was because she knew they would go after him instead. And there was the whole incident with that weird God Eater.

"Well, well, looks like someone has seen the error of his ways," said the red-armed man.

"That's great Aria, you two made up!" The orange haired guy grinned.

"Just took fighting a bunch of Vajratails but hey, that's my style right?" Aria replied with a wide grin.

"Oh man, did she go all demon of the battlefield on them?" he asked Jun.

A demon? Jun thought about it for a moment. "I guess it looked kind of demoninc."

"Oh no, don't you start using that nickname too," groaned Aria. "It's bad enough hearing it from these guys!"

The hooded guy took a few steps towards Aria. "You're bleeding."

Aria looked down at her leg. "Oh man, I guess I opened it again."

"Holy crap," cried the orange haired guy. "Aria, what happened!?"

The hooded one's attention focused back on Jun. "What the hell did you do?" he snapped.

Jun blinked. The venom in this guy's voice was intense! "I…"

"It wasn't Jun," Aria said quickly. She turned to Tsubaki. "That was actually what I was going to tell you. When I was out there I got attacked by a God Eater."

"A God Eater?" Tsubaki repeated.

She nodded. "A buster blade user. Old-Type. Blue-black blade. I didn't recognize it so it is probably an old model that isn't in use anymore. But yeah, the God Eater attacked us. Whoever it was, was wearing a cloak so I don't have exact features but height wise…" She turned to her teammates. "I would say close to Soma's height."

So the name of the hooded guy was Soma. Jun felt so out of place as Aria continued to describe the person to the best of her ability. How did she notice all of this in such a short period of time?

"I will look into this," spoke Tsubaki. "I'll also send out a message to other God Eaters to keep a lookout. A God Eater attacking others is troubling. It's even odder than the God Eater appeared human as well. Lindow, I think you should get to bed, Kota, Soma, you two as well. You were on patrol all night."

"Yeah, I'm all set to hit the hay," yawned Lindow.

Jun noticed the similarities between Lindow and Tsubaki. Were they related?

"Aria, you should get to the sick bay and get that leg looked at."

"Going there now,' replied Aria.

"Woah, hang on a moment," said Lindow quickly. He gestured to Soma. "Hey, you still have some energy right?"

"Uh yeah?"

"Great, why don't you carry our Leader down to the sick bay?"

Soma's eyes widen. "What the hell?" he snapped.

"I'm fine Lindow," Aria protested. "I can make it."

"You're leaving a lot of blood on the floor," Kota pointed out. He put his hands on his hips. "I say you do it. Right Soma? You're willing?"

Soma tugged the top of his hood. "Sure…"he murmured. "I'll do it."

"Now let's not make this a repeat of Aegis Island." Lindow patted Aria's shoulder as he passed her. "Just take up the offer."

Kota yawned and followed Lindow to the elevator.

Soma sighed and bent down. "Here, get on."

Jun did not know why but he could feel his big brother instinct surging up within him as he watched as Aria sighed before she got on his back. Soma stood, adjusting to her weight before he silently began carrying her towards the elevator.

"I'll see you later, okay Jun?" she called back to him.

Jun nodded. "Uh okay." He wanted to get down to the refugee floor when he felt a tugging on the back of his shirt. He looked back to see Tsubaki looking down at him with a very, very scary look on her face.

"Now, don't expect for me to just let you walk away from here scotch free. You are the reason why the best God Eater in this Branch is currently injured and why she was sent out at daybreak without much rest. I can't let you go without giving you some sort of punishment."

Jun gulped. This did not look good. Not at all.

* * *

><p>Aria slid off Soma's back and onto one of the beds in the Sick Bay. "I'm sorry for this Soma," she said. "You really didn't need to carry me all the way here." She wondered if Lindow had some idea of her feelings for Soma. Could that be why he was so insistent of situations such as this? No way, she was really good at keeping her emotions to herself, that was not it at all.<p>

"Don't worry, I don't mind." Soma looked away and tugged on his hood. "You're uh, pretty light."

"Uh, thank you I think?" laughed Aria. She hissed in pain as the doctor unwrapped her makeshift bandage.

"Damn," he whistled. "I never expected to see this kind of injury on you."

"You and me both," replied Aria with a small grin. She saw Soma staring at the injury wide eyed. "It isn't as bad as it looks….right Doctor?"

He nodded. "Yes, it should heal without any problems. I don't even think it will scar." He readied a syringe. "First we'll activate your oracle cells and then begin cleaning the wound. That should help stop the bleeding."

"Fine by me," replied Aria as she held out her arm. "Shouldn't you be going to bed Soma? You were up all night-Ack, is that what I think it is? I'm so sorry Soma, I think I got blood on your coat."

Soma looked down at where she was pointing. "Oh, looks like you did."

"I don't think our clothes were made for getting human blood off of it. Sorry but you might want to soak that right away." Aria would have totally gotten up to do it but the doctor had already begun cleaning her leg.

"Don't worry, it's fine, I'll take care of it," he replied. "But you…"

She lifted her hand. "Please don't give me a don't-be-reckless speech right now."

"I was going to say for you to be more careful. I don't think any of us could predict getting attacked by a God Eater…well one that wasn't like how Lindow was."

Aria stared at Soma. "Wait…did you try to make a joke there?"

Soma looked away, confirming her suspicion. She giggled. "Good attempt. Just work on the delivery next time."

"Shut up."

She shrugged. "Suit yourself. Before you go, I saw Kota and Lindow grinning at me earlier along with Alisa and Sakuya. What was up with that?"

"Your sister, Ayame came to visit us in the cafeteria," he replied.

"Ayame did? For what?"

"She wanted to apologize for Jun. She also told us some stories about you."

"Stories?"

"Like the incident with the cat."

"She what!? Gah!" Aria covered her face in her hands. "My leader image is ruined now! Why did she tell you guys that!?"

"Aria, it's not good to get too riled up when you are healing," reminded the doctor.

Soma shrugged. "That one didn't seem as bad as the one with Hana and the tree."

Aria groaned and fell back on the bed. "You can go now Soma. Let me sit here and cry in woe as my leadership is taken away by bad decisions."

"You are getting as dramatic as Kota." Soma rolled his eyes. Softly he added. "There's no way we would abandon you for that."

"Sure, sure." Aria wiped a fake tear from her eye. "I will just sit here and cry about it."

"I know you would not cry over it," he added before slipping out of the Sick Bay.

Aria stared at door, her brow furrowed. The way he said it bothered her but she couldn't put her finger on exactly why.


	3. Chapter 3

**And, final chapter. This was a fun ride. :) I do have a couple of ideas for some after-story but I'll have to see if I get to writing them or not. Anyway, enjoy the final chapter!**

* * *

><p>"You seem really happy." Alisa pointed out.<p>

Aria sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Is it really that obvious?" It had been a couple of days since she had rescued Jun. Since then, she had been spending all of her free time down to the refugee area to catch up on all of the things she had missed since becoming a God Eater.

Alisa shook her head. "It's not a bad thing. I'm happy for you."

Why did it seem like everyone had been saying that for the past couple of days? Aria had asked Ayame what she had told everyone since it seemed like it wasn't just stories of the past but Ayame had denied saying anything else.

The two girls turned the corner and came upon the huge hole in the Anti-Aragami Wall. Thankfully it seemed like the Aragami attacks in the area had reduced somewhat. It didn't make much sense though as the hole was still here but Aria wasn't complaining. It made patrolling so much easier.

"Hey, I have a weird theory," spoke up Alisa.

"Go ahead." Aria peered out of the hole but it didn't look like any Aragami were hanging out behind the Wall either.

"What if that God Eater you saw was the cause of the Aragami decrease? There haven't been much Aragami in this area since then..."

Aria nodded. "I'm thinking that as well. It is very weird that the patrols have been going so smoothly recently. However it is still very odd that no one else has actually seen this mysterious God Eater." She looked down at her leg. "Or maybe it is for the better that no one has seen this God Eater…"

"At least we know whoever it is, is still human?" put in Alisa. "Otherwise they would not be using a God Arc."

"True." Aria replied. "Tsubaki told me this morning that she is going to be able to one hundred percent confirm everything by tomorrow. We'll just have to wait until then." She looked up to see a chopper flying overhead. "I think our shift's over. Let's get back Alisa."

"Finally," Alisa sighed. "It's always so dusty here that I feel like I need to take a long shower when I get back…" She gulped. "No offense or anything Aria! I'm sure this was a wonderful place to live before."

Aria laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not offended, it is pretty dusty here."

The girls reached the chopper and bid hello to Brendan and Kannon. With the area being quiet only two God Eaters were being assigned to patrol at one time. After they returned to the Den, the girls split up with Alisa going to take a shower and Aria went down to the warehouse floor.

"Aria's here!" cried Kyo. The eight year old was a new member of the family, being adopted in when his parents had been killed during the Aragami raid.

"Kids, don't crowd around her!" called Ayame.

Aria waded through the children and sat down next to Ayame. Mizuno was handing out the rations for the day to the children. Well, more or less, she was shoving it into their hands as many were focused on Aria.

"Food-wise, you guys are okay?" asked Aria.

Ayame nodded. "Yeah, we're fine. A couple of the other people here are getting a bit angsty for staying here for so long but Jun has been working hard to help calm them down."

"It's quite shocking," said Jiro. "I never expected him to change his tune so fast."

Aria thought back to how he looked when she had defeated all of those Vajratails. Pure shock. "I think he finally really understood how dangerous this job was," she replied quietly.

"Aria? Can you tell us another story?" asked Kimi.

"Tell us the one when you fought that Nova thing…"

"It's called Arda Nova stupid!"

"I'm not stupid…"

"Don't make Kentaro cry!"

Aria laughed and clapped her hands a few times to draw their attention to her. "Alright, alright, I'll tell the story of how we defeated Arda Nova."

After four and a half stories later, Jun had saved her from telling another by sending the children off to bed with the promise that Aria would come by tomorrow to tell another.

"Thanks Jun," Aria coughed slightly. Her voice had become a bit hoarse from telling so many in such a short period of time.

"The kids need to sleep, it is getting late," put in Jun.

"He just wanted to save you," giggled Ayame.

"Shut up Ayame."

Ayame rolled her eyes. "But how are you doing Aria? How's our home?"

"I swung by our house and it is still there," replied Aria. "A little messy on the inside but it seems pretty intact."

Jun sighed. "That's good. I was not looking forward to the idea of rebuilding."

"What about Aragami?" Mizuno asked quietly.

"Nothing in the area when Alisa and I were on patrol." Aria shrugged. "It's very weird. The scent of humans would still be strong within the A-2 block so I think everyone is a bit weirded out by the lack of Aragami."

"And that Crazy God Eater?"

"Confirmation tomorrow. But Jun, I might not be able to tell you anything. It might be classified to just God Eaters."

Jun shrugged. "At least you'll know something? That's the important part right?"

"Yeah." Aria got to her feet. "Anyway, I would love to hang out and talk and such but I have been neglecting paperwork for the past couple of days. I need to take care of that before it becomes a monster."

"Don't push yourself too hard," instructed Jun. "I know how you get when you are focused on something. I want you to get enough sleep, okay?"

Aria sighed. "Really Jun, I'm fine. I managed to survive a few months without you around to remind me remember?"

"Well I will say I have no idea how you were able to do that," replied Jun. He gave her a light push on the shoulder. "Now go on. The longer we keep you down here, the later you are going to work. So go."

* * *

><p>Soma tossed a few times in bed. He was having an incredibly odd dream.<p>

He was standing in the middle of a wide open field. In front of him was Aria wearing a pure white hoodie. Before her was the Corrosive Hannibal. Soma opened his mouth to yell out a warning but no words would come out.

She did not seem to be worried though. She lifted her hands and hugged the Corrosive Hannibal's neck. Immediately the creature began to dissolve away, leaving behind a small white bird. As if other creatures had witnessed it, other Aragami started appearing. There were many different species, all pure black.

Aria did not stop to think. She touched each other, transforming them into small white birds. Soma noticed that every time she touched one, the darkness from the creature would leech onto her. While the beasts around her were turning white she was turning darker with each creature she helped.

_She needs to stop_…

That thought rose up in Soma's mind. She would be in danger if she continued. Her life would be in danger. He opened his mouth to yell at her to stop but no words would come out of his throat. Growling, he hurried over to her, pushing against the black Aragami that were trying to be purified.

He reached her side and saw the darkness covering her body like a second shell. She turned to look at him and despite the darkness that surrounded her, despite the pain he knew she was feeling, she reached out and grasped his hands with her own.

Soma froze when he realized that his hands were claws. Black Aragami claws. He could see the darkness leeching out from his hands and into hers. He tried to pull away but her grip was tight. She would not let him go without helping him.

_Stop…you need to stop! You're going to die…_

As if she heard his inner thoughts, she looked up into his eyes and gave him a smile before the darkness consumed her.

Soma's eyes shot open and he sat up with a start. He was drenched in sweat. "What the hell?" he growled as he clutched his head. What kind of dream was that? He never had a dream like that before and it pissed him off.

Too riled up to fall back asleep, he got to his feet and grabbed some water from his fridge. He downed half of it before tossing the bottle on the counter. That helped somewhat but there was no way he could fall back asleep right now.

He remembered the smiling expression of the dream Aria and how she had been consumed by the darkness. Although he knew that it was just a dream with no reference to the real world, a part of him really wanted to check on her.

"What the hell is wrong with me? Listening to my dreams now. What's next? Watching Bugarally with Kota?" After he had tossed on his shirt, he stepped out of his room and headed down the hall to hers. It was very quiet since it was the middle of the night. He realized that she was probably asleep and he thought of turning back.

The image of Aria getting devoured by darkness just would not leave his mind though. _She can go back to sleep afterwards_. Reaching her door, he lifted a hand and before he could second guess himself, he rapped his knuckles against it a few times. "It's me," he said.

The door opened a few seconds later. "Hey Soma, what's up?" she asked.

The first thing he noticed was the fact that the bright lights were on in her room with papers strewn around on the table. Obviously she had not been asleep as he thought. The second was that she was not in her hoodie but in a black tank top.

It shocked him for a few seconds. He was so used to seeing her covered up that seeing her without the hoodie was kind of weird.

Her brow furrowed as she took him in. "Is something wrong?" she asked gently. "It's the middle of the night."

"You're still working?" What the hell was he saying? He shook his head. "Never mind."

"Hang on." She reached out and lightly grabbed his arm. Soma realized that this was the first time he had felt her hand touch his skin directly. Usually he would be wearing his blue coat but he didn't grab it when he had left his room.

She smiled. "Why don't you come in for some tea?"

* * *

><p>Aria was shocked when she opened the door to find Soma standing there. He had looked disheveled and nervous, not the kind of expression she expected to see on his face. So, it was that reason that she had invited him into her room to have some tea.<p>

"Sorry for the mess, I was catching up on the reports about Aragami in the area. I've been hanging out with my family way too much that I haven't been reading them like I used to." She handed a mug to Soma before sitting down across from him.

"You should take better care of your health," he scolded. "You might get sick if you stay up late like this."

Aria rolled her eyes. It was probably for the best that she didn't tell Soma that she had done this plenty of times in the past.

He stared down at the cup of tea and then at her.

"Oh, does it taste weird? It's not the stuff that the Den gives us."

Soma shook his head. "No, it's good. Just…surprised."

Aria grinned. "It's an herbal blend I use to calm the kids down when they had nightmares. I was able to get some from the house when I was over there. I gave the rest to Ayame but I kept some for myself." She took a long sip. "It's been a while since I drank this so it is pretty nostalgic."

"You always seem to find some way to surprise me."

Aria stared down at her cup of tea. She didn't want to admit it to herself but the fact that Soma was in her room, in the middle of the night, was very, very awkward. She felt even more weirder because of the fact that neither of them were wearing their coats. Seriously what was wrong with her? Freaking out over exposed arms. Ahhh arms, so scary!

Why couldn't she be more like Alisa and Sakuya? Those two didn't seem to have any problem showing off skin to others.

She shook her head and focused back on the matter at hand. There had to be a reason that Soma had come to her room in the middle of the night. "So what's wrong?" she asked gently.

"You're going to think it is stupid."

Aria wanted to put a hand on his shoulder like she did with Kota or Alisa. However she felt like that would step over an invisible line between the two of them. "I have heard Kota's stories about Bugarally. My younger siblings talk about stuff that only kids care about, I think my bar for stupid is different than yours."

Soma ran his fingers through his disheveled platinum blond hair. "I had a dream," he murmured.

"A dream?" Aria stared at him for a few seconds before she drew her eyes down to the drink. Huh, guess she gave him the right herbal blend after all. Wait a minute. If he was here after having a dream… "A dream about me?" She was happy that there was no tell-tale squeak in her voice. Good. She needed to be the strong leader right now and not a nervous girl with the guy she liked in her room.

Soma groaned. "It sounds so stupid when I hear you say it like that."

"No, I'm not judging you or anything." _Just really surprised_. "A bad dream?"

"Something like that," replied Soma. "You sort of…died at the end."

She opened her mouth and shut it. "Oh." She remembered having those kind of dreams when she had first become Leader. She might have seemed calm and in control to others but in her room she was worried about keeping everyone else alive on missions.

"I know, it's stupid."

"It's not," she said gently. Against her better judgment, she put down her cup and reached out and grasped Soma's free hand with hers. She gently ran her fingers along his knuckles. "The fact that you are in my room right now after having a dream like that tells me that you view me as a comrade."

"Of course I do," he said in surprise. "You're the Leader of the First Unit." He gave her a small smile. "I don't think I would follow anyone else's commands on the battle field. You have a knack for keeping us all alive."

She could feel her cheeks heating up from that smile and stare. She pulled her hands back and picked up her cup to distract herself. "You can be so cruel sometimes," she murmured under her breath.

"What was that?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing."

They two sat in silence, both sipping away at their drinks. It didn't feel awkward at all, in fact it felt sort of nice. They never did stuff like this. Her eyelids began to feel heavy. She didn't want to admit it to him but she was going to head off to bed when he had knocked on her door. She could hear him talking about she was already too far gone to actually understand what he was saying.

* * *

><p>What the hell was he doing? A couple months ago he would never have come to Aria's room to drink tea in the middle of the night. And yet here he was today, drinking tea in her room.<p>

"Ayame told us something else on that day she told us embarrassing stories of your past," began Soma. "She told us that you were the type to hold everything so no one else could see what you were going through." He thought back to his dream. "So uh…what I want to say is that you can tell me stuff you know. I'll listen…"

He turned to gauge her reaction but what he saw was even weirder. "Are you actually asleep?" No response. No way…she had actually fallen asleep on him? Sitting up too which made it even weirder. He was struck by the fact that he had never seen her asleep before. Sure, he had seen her knocked out when she had been attacked by Hannibal but that was different than this. Was she really that tired?

Slowly Soma got to his feet and gently pried the cup out of her hands. Thankfully she had rested it in her lap so it had not spilled onto the floor. After cleaning them in the sink he turned back to face her. What was he going to do? She was still sleeping there. It was not like he could just leave her to sleep like that.

He glanced over at her bed and then at her. "Good thing Lindow isn't here," he murmured. Soma had the feeling that Lindow would have something interesting to say about this. After Soma had pulled the blanket back, he returned to her side. The easiest way to get her to the bed would be to carry her in the front and not on his back like he did the past couple of times.

Why did the thought of it make him feel so awkward?

He shook his head. No, he just needed to focus. Slowly, he slipped a hand to support her back while the other he set under her thighs. After a mental count of three, he lifted her up. He felt her stir slightly but she didn't wake.

"You can be a real handful sometimes," he murmured as he turned slowly. "Maybe we need to get you to eat more, you're real light. No wonder you use a short sword in battle." Why was he rambling away like this? What if his talking woke her up right now? Ugh, he didn't want her to wake up at this moment. It was just so…awkward?

Finally, after what felt like eternity, he reached her bed. He gently put her down and pulled the covers up. "Hopefully you will be able to sleep well tonight at least," he murmured as he stared at her sleeping face. He had heard from Lindow that girls looked really cute when they slept. Sakuya had turned red and then kicked him for it.

Maybe Lindow was right about something. Aria looked kinda…cute asleep.

What the hell was he thinking?

He quickly turned and headed for the door. It was really late. That had to be the reason he was having weird thoughts.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Aria joined the rest of the First Unit in the executive office. Dr. Sakaki was sitting behind the desk and Tsubaki stood in front of it. She gave Soma small smile when she entered but he would not look at her. She mentally shrugged at that.<p>

She had woken up in her bed after falling asleep on Soma. Obviously he had put her in her bed. He was probably embarrassed about having to do something like that. She on the other hand wished she was awake when he did that. It was very sweet of him to do that before leaving (although she would never tell him that).

"Okay, you're all here," said Tsubaki. "I guess we'll start."

Dr. Sakaki rested his elbows on the desk and leaned forward. "From this day on the First Unit will be removed from protecting the A-2 area until further notice."

"Other than your normal extermination duties, there is the matter of this God Eater Aria faced."

"So we finally know who it is?" asked Lindow. "Took you long enough Sis."

Tsubaki silenced Lindow with a glare. "I had to confirm a few things. This was a highly sensitive matter and I needed to be sure."

"Is it really that bad?" Kota asked.

Tsubaki nodded. "The God Eater that had attacked Aria is named Maria Yamada. She was a God Eater assigned to this branch eight years ago. She has worked here at the branch for two years."

"I think I remember her," said Sakuya. "Very faintly though."

"Why was she only at the branch for two years?" asked Alisa. "And why did she attack Aria?"

"I'm getting to that."

"The bias factor at the time was not as refined as it is today," spoke up Dr. Sakaki. "Unfortunately there were side effects in Maria Yamada, causing her to be mentally unstable as a result. She was transferred to a mental hospital and has been there for the past six years."

"It seems like the hospital wanted to keep it hush hush but she escaped from the facility along with her God Arc about two weeks ago."

"I also hypothesize that she's the reason for the hole in A-2. The cuts to the Wall seemed too smooth for a random occurrence so all that was left was a God Arc," put in Dr. Sakaki. "For that reason, despite the replacement piece for the Wall being almost finished, we do not want to put it in until Maria Yamada has been taken care of if she attacks the Wall again."

"How do we know she is even still in the area?" asked Aria. "No one has reported her in."

"She is actually from this region so we assume that any part of her rational mind that is still active is trying to go back to places she knows. Plus the other branches haven't reported anything so we assume she is still here."

"I was hiding under your noses for a long time too," Lindow pointed out. "It's easy to stay out of sight around here."

"So be on the lookout for her when you are out on your missions but be careful. She is mentally unstable so she is unable to tell friend from foe." She turned to Aria. "I sent you the detailed files on the case so you can review it later. For the rest of you, I have given you access to the basic information."

"Got it," said Aria.

"Oh right, before you go…" Dr. Sakaki typed away on the computer in front of him for a few moments before he turned the screen around. "This is what Maria looked like in the last picture that was taken of her when she was in the hospital."

Aria's blood turned cold. No way. She could feel her emotions start bubbling up. She grabbed them and shoved them back into a corner of herself. No, she could not react. She could not have that kind of reaction.

"Got it," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "I'll return to my room and look over the detailed files. I'm not on a mission right?"

Tsubaki shook her head. "No."

"Got it." Aria saw Soma watching her but she ignored him as she hurried back to her room. Usually she would take the elevator with everyone else but this time she took the stairs. It was faster and she didn't want to have to deal with anyone else right now.

Reaching her room, she slammed the door shut behind her and locked it. She crumpled to the floor and wrapped her arms around herself. "Nee-san…" she whispered.

* * *

><p>Soma knew something was wrong. Something was seriously wrong with her.<p>

He watched Aria talk to Hibari from the couch on the elevated part of the floor. She had seemed agitated after Dr. Sakaki showed the picture of what Maria looked like. Soma didn't see anything weird about it. Sure, the girl looked a bit out there but she was in a mental hospital. Dark red hair that reached her midback and out there green eyes. Soma had looked through the files when he had returned to his room but there was nothing weird in them.

"You know, if you keep staring at her like that, someone's going to figure it out."

Soma jerked back and glared up at Lindow. The God Eater sat down next to Soma. "Seriously, can you hurry up and figure it out already?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Lindow shook his head. "Maybe it is because I didn't get to watch the progression that is so obvious to me. Honestly, it is so painful watching this sometimes."

"What the hell are you going on about?" growled Soma.

Lindow shrugged. "I don't know, you tell me."

Soma wanted to strangle Lindow.

"Oh hey Lindow," said Aria. She nodded to Soma. "The mission was fine?"

"Yeah," replied Lindow. "How's strategizing going on your end? Figure out ways to stop Maria?"

"Kind of," she replied.

Was Soma imagining it or did she look really uncomfortable right now?

"Anyway, I'm going to go check on Jun and the others. See you guys later."

Lindow waved goodbye before focusing back on Soma. "You are worried about her right?"

Soma winced. What the hell was Lindow getting at?

"I don't blame you, she is acting a little weird right now." Lindow tapped his claws on the table. It made a really disturbing sound to Soma.

Where was he going with this? Lindow was staring at Soma expectantly. Lindow sighed in disappointment. "Look, I heard about what happened with Shio and all so I can understand why you are a little slow on the uptake but still. I really think Kota would have understood better than you do."

What the hell? Soma opened his mouth to protest but Lindow was already on his feet. "Just think it over a bit alright?" he said.

* * *

><p>"Aria? Are you listening?"<p>

Aria blinked and focused on Ayame's concerned face. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Are you sure you're okay? You've been a little out of it since yesterday. Is everything alright?"

How could she tell Ayame that Nee-san was a crazy God Eater that had tried to kill Aria before? Aria had scanned through the files Tsubaki had sent her. It was mostly just detailed medical files along with all of the records of her battle accomplishments. There was nothing in them that truly gave a reason for Nee-san's decline. It was hypothesized that it was caused by her not being one hundred percent compatible with the bias factor but it was unknown if that was truly the cause.

"Maybe you should rest while you can," said Jun. "You really do seem more tired out than you did before."

"You don't need to visit us!" put in Kimi. "We can take care of ourselves."

Aria patted the younger girl on the head. "I know you can. Why don't you go play with the other kids?"

Kimi nodded and scrambled off of Aria's lap.

Aria watched her go before she focused on her older siblings. "What if…what if one of us saw Nee-san again…what would you do?"

"If we saw Nee-san again?" Ayame thought it over. "I don't know…hug her?"

"I would want to know where she went," said Jiro.

"I would punch her for leaving us alone for so long," grumbled Jun. "But then I guess I would hug her…she was-is our older sister after all. Why'd you ask such a thing Aria?"

Aria shook her head. "I'm just curious, it's nothing. Just a thought I had." She got to her feet. "Sorry I can't stay long guys, God Eater business to take care of."

"Oh, before you go, I heard the piece of the Wall was almost complete, is it true?" asked Jun.

Aria nodded. "Yeah. Soon you guys will be able to go home." She grinned. "I know you will be happy to get away from us smelly God Eaters."

"Oh you bet," laughed Jun.

Aria managed to keep it together until she got to the elevator. As the doors closed she leaned her head against the wall. What the hell was she going to do? "Did you not continue to attack because you recognized me Nee-san?" She bit her lip. What was she going to do? The files stated that Maria was so de-attached from reality that she could not function in the real world. In other words, it was almost impossible to bring her in alive.

"Could I actually do it?" she whispered. Nee-san was the one that had took in all of the orphaned children into her house. She didn't have to do it but she saved them all. "Can I save you Nee-san?" she whispered. She clutched the hem of her hoodie. "You would want me to be strong about this…right Nee-san?"

The elevator slowed to a stop. Aria stood and sucked in a few deep breaths to get her emotions under control as the doors opened on the main floor. She walked out and headed down to where Hibari was. "Did it work?"

Hibari looked up and nodded. "I was just about to call you. Your idea was correct. I have found an armlet signal at the northern area of the Tranquil Temple. It was faint so I would have overlooked it otherwise. I'm surprised that you were able to figure out Maria's location so quickly."

"Lucky guess," replied Aria.

"Shall I call a meeting of the First Unit? You will be able to take care of it right away."

Aria shook her head. "No, wait an hour. Lindow, Alisa and Kota were on just on a mission, I want everyone to be at full strength when we fight her. She is very unstable but still a strong God Eater."

"But what if she moves locations?" asked Hibari.

"It should be fine. I estimate she won't move from now until then. Thanks Hibari and remember, an hour." Aria walked away. She didn't know if Hibari would listen to her suggestion. She hoped so. This would give her an hour to take care of everything. Hopefully that would be enough.

* * *

><p><em>"All members of the First Unit, report to the bridge at once!<em>"

Hibari's voice echoed over the intercom system. Soma jumped off his bed and threw on his coat. Did they find Maria? Why else would the First Unit be called though? When he reached the bridge, he saw all of the other members of the First Unit minus Aria.

"Okay, this is starting to seem very familiar," commented Kota.

Hibari frowned and typed away on her computer. She stopped and stared at the screen. "Uh, Tsubaki?"

Tsubaki groaned. "Don't tell me she has gone to take care of Maria by herself?"

"Unfortunately it has seems so. I have pinpointed her location to the Tranquil Temple."

"Seriously, what is up with her and doing everything herself?" sighed Alisa.

"What I don't get is why she went to fight Maria alone," put in Sakuya. "There is no point to it. It's not like she knew Maria…"

An idea sparked in Soma's head. "Tsubaki…how many years ago was Maria part of this branch?"

"Eight," replied Tsubaki. "Why?"

"Can you pull a picture up of Maria on your screen?" he asked Hibari. "I'll be right back." He thought back to how agitated she looked after she had seen Maria's picture. How for the past day she seemed very distant from everyone else. Normally he would never have noticed it. Hell, it took him a few weeks to realize how distant she was during the Ren case. Why did it take him so much less time this time to do so? Why was he paying so much attention to her in the first place?

No time to be thinking about that.

He got off the elevator on the refugee floor. It took him a few moments to locate the small camp made up of Aria's siblings. Jun backed up a few steps as Soma approached.

"You're…Soma right?" spoke up Ayame. "I remember you."

"I need you to come with me," he said gruffly.

"Hey!" snapped Jun. "What the hell is going on?"

Soma glared at Jun. "It involves Aria. I need her to confirm something."

Jun shut his mouth and looked away.

"It's fine Jun," Ayame said gently. To Soma, "I knew something was wrong. She said something odd to us too."

Damn it. Was his suspicion right? He took Ayame up to the bridge floor and brought her over to where Hibari and the others waited.

"What's Ayame doing here?" wondered Sakuya.

"Hibari, show her the picture of Maria."

Just like Soma thought, the girl's eyes widen in shock at the picture. "But…that's…Nee-san…"

A collective groan went up in the group.

"Should have guessed," sighed Sakuya. "What else could it have been?"

"I can't believe none of us figured this out," sighed Lindow. "The timing was just right too."

"What…what's going on?" asked Ayame. "What happened with Nee-san? What's Aria doing?"

"That girl…" Tsubaki shook her head. "I'll need to give her a stern talking to when she gets back here."

"I knew this is a personal fight but are we really going to let her fight alone?" asked Kota.

"Wait, Aria is fighting Maria?" gasped Ayame. The poor girl was still very lost to what was going on.

"There is no way we can do that," protested Alisa. "She fought against Lindow to spare our feelings. We can't let her go through this fight alone…"

Lindow crossed his arms. "Yes…we can't let her fight alone." He turned to Soma. "Go after her right now, the rest of us will join up in another hour if you don't respond."

What the hell was up with Lindow at a time like this? "Hang on, why only me?" He didn't know a thing about Maria other than she apparently raised Aria. What was he supposed to do?

"Lindow, really," spoke up Sakuya.

Lindow shook his head stubbornly. "No, I think this is a good idea. Trust me on this one Sakuya."

"I…I agree."

Everyone turned to Ayame. They had forgotten that the girl was even there. She was staring at Soma with an odd look on her face. "Yes, it will be fine. Soma should go. Only him." She focused on the group. "I don't know the situation that well but I know Aria. I know Nee-san. Aria will fight with everything she has. If something has happened with Nee-san…I know she would want Aria to take care of her. Aria would do it. She's strong like that…or appears to be strong like that." She smiled at Soma. "She's told us about you guys, about the missions you went on and what not. I think I finally understand the dynamics. I agree with Lindow. Please go Soma. Not to fight Maria but to be there for her…please."

What the heck was Ayame talking about? He turned to the group but the rest of the First Unit seemed to understand something that Soma didn't.

Alisa sighed. "Alright. You get one hour, make sure she comes back alive."

Tsubaki nodded. "As an order for me, Soma Schicksalgo after First Unit Leader Aria and make sure she returns safe and sound."

Soma nodded. He might not truly understand what everyone had been talking about but that order he could follow. He would go and return with Aria.

* * *

><p>Aria sucked in a few deep breaths as she lowered her sword. "Nee-san…nee-san you need to stop," she begged.<p>

Maria's expression did not change as she lifted her buster blade and tried to strike Aria again. Aria dodged left to avoid the sword and swung her own. The cloak that Maria wore to cover herself was torn apart in the various places where Aria had struck her. Thankfully Maria had not been able to land a hit but Aria did not know if it was because the weight of the sword or was a part of Maria still in there.

"I know you wanted to go home," Aria said gently. "That's why you made a hole in the Anti-Aragami Wall near A-2. You wanted to go home. You didn't expect the Aragami attack so you fled here."

She dodged another sword swing from Maria. "You told me about this place remember? You mentioned how you liked the temple here because it was so quiet. No God Eaters were here because we were all defending A-2 so you were left alone, at least until Jun and I came here."

Maria let out a guttural cry before swinging her sword again.

"I wish we knew Nee-san!" cried Aria as she attacked the sword swing head on. She deflected the swing before striking out with her own. She was too far away to do any real damage to Maria. "Jun and I thought was something was weird with the way you were acting, we could feel something was wrong, we just couldn't figure it out though! And then you vanished from our lives when in fact you had lost your grip on reality."

Maria screamed and swung her God Arc.

"Self-preservation only," Aria whispered as she blocked that swing as well. "That's all the file said. All you know now, due to the oracle cells and your God Arc's will, you just want to live, that's it. Your mind is gone…the Nee-san I know is gone."

Again Aria blocked the swing. "I knew the others would want to fight by my side. I know they would want to share this burden with me but…I can't Nee-san. I'm sorry if I'm a selfish child but I have to take care of you myself, for the sake of all of the children you have raised. It has to be me."

Maria swung her blade harder than before. Aria yelped as the weight slammed her to the ground. Aria scrambled back to her feet to see Maria running. "Nee-san!"

"Where do you think you're going?"

Aria stared in shock as Soma stepped out from behind one of the buildings. His white God Arc matched the snow below. What was he doing here? He swung his blade in Maria's direction. Maria growled and tried to strike him with her blade but he blocked and pushed her back towards Aria.

"Everyone is pissed off at you right now for going off with us again," he said.

Aria wanted to ask what he was doing here but Maria was now like a cornered rat. She was wildly swinging her sword around and screaming at the top of her lungs.

"She's going to attract Aragami," growled Soma.

"Nee-san…please, you need to stop," begged Aria. "Please, for the sake of Jun and the others, please…"

No sign of recognition from Maria. With Soma here, she could feel her leadership role sinking back into her. She knew what she had to do. She could not hesitate. It would mean both of their deaths if Maria attracted Aragami with her voice.

Aria transformed her God Arc to gun mode. "Nee-san, everyone else can't go home. You might break the Wall again so they can't go home unless you are not a problem."

Maria's crazed eyes focused on her. She swung. Aria fired a shot at the blade, knocking Maria off balance. She raced towards Nee-san, her gun turning back into a sword.

Aria swung.

She never knew how easy it was to cut through a human's body with a God Arc. It wasn't like cutting through an Aragami at all. It was much easier, much cleaner.

Aria numbly stared down at Maria's limp form. She took a few shaky breathes. The mission was over. She had done it by herself. She was fine. She was a God Eater. She was completely fine. She was strong. She was fine.

"Let it out Aria," he said gently. "Your sister, Ayame, she told us about it. How you have to hold your emotions so no one knows when you are sad or upset. Just let it out. I won't tell." He turned his back to her. "Go ahead."

She heard something weird. It was an odd sound. It reminded her of the sobbing Alisa did when she cried. It hit her a moment later where the sound was actually coming from. Aria crumpled to the ground in front of Nee-san's body as the tears that she had kept locked away for six years finally spilled out. She could not stop the weird sobbing noises she made as she cried. It just came out along with the tears.

* * *

><p>Like a silent protector, Soma just stood there, with his back to her, watching the surroundings to make sure nothing approached. He could hear her screaming and crying behind him but he did not want to turn to look at her. What if she stopped letting it out if she realized he was watching her?<p>

He stared down at his hand and gritted his teeth. He didn't know why each sob she let out pierced him like a small dagger. He looked up at the moon overhead. Was Shio up there, watching them right now? What would Shio say in a time like this?

Odd, he realized. Usually when he looked up at the moon, he felt a sense of sadness hit him. Not this time though. Yes, a part of him was sad about Shio leaving but it wasn't as strong as before.

_"You're so silly Soma, you found something much more tastier than Shio was."_

Soma stared at his sword. He didn't know if the words came from what he thought Shio would say or it was from the part of Shio that rested in his sword and she was speaking to him. Something tastier than Shio huh?

He took a deep breath and turned to look at her. She was crumpled on the ground, her arms wrapped around herself. To say it nicely, she looked like a mess. Her face was red, her eyes puffy from crying. She was shaking as those weird sobs kept escaping her throat.

He knelt next to her. She looked up at him with lost eyes. "S….S….S…Soma…" she managed to choke out. She rubbed her eyes to try to stop the tears from coming out.

"Stop it." He pulled her hands away from her face. "Keep crying. You need to let it out."

She shook her head. "N..."

He didn't let her finish as he put down his sword and pulled her to his chest. "Keep crying. I won't let you go till you're done."

Her sobs got louder and she body shook as she cried until there was nothing left.

* * *

><p>"You mean we can't stay here?" whined Kimi. "I want to hang out with the God Eaters! They're so cool!"<p>

"But you guys get to go home," Kota pointed out. "No need to spend all of your time stuck down here in a boring room of the Den."

Soma watched as a couple of the children started claiming reasons why Kota was dead wrong with his assumptions. Nearby Alisa was being helped with learning the names of all of the children by Jiro.

"So the one with dark hair is Ken, the one with the ponytail is Aiko…"

Lindow was letting a few children touch his red arm. A little girl poked it and recoiled back in surprise as Lindow tried grabbing her with it.

"Stop it, don't scare them!" scolded Sakuya as she hit her husband's arm.

Aria was sitting in the middle with one of the smaller children in her lap. She was telling a couple of them a story of a mission. She no longer wore her brown hoodie. She had told him (as well as everyone else) that since it was a memento of Maria, it was too painful for her to wear. Now she tended to wear a tank top in battle instead. She said it didn't restrict her movement as much but all Soma could think of was that her arms were exposed and that was ignoring the fact that he saw way more of the top of her chest than he was used to.

After the Maria incident, the work on the Wall had gone by much faster and now the Wall piece was complete. It was going to be installed tonight with the people from A-2 being able to return in the morning. Aria had wanted to spend the final night with them and she invited everyone else from the First Unit to join her. She had invited the Second and Third Unit but those two Units were on guard duty for the night while the Wall were being fixed. The First Unit would be called in if things got too out of hand for the other Units to handle.

He silently watched as Aria continued to tell the story to the young children. Ever since the Maria case he noticed she seemed more open with him. Hell, she seemed more open with the First Unit. When the two of them had returned, Tsubaki looked like she was going to yell but held back as Aria looked like she was going to cry again.

There was a tenderness now to her, he realized.

"This is getting so old."

Soma glanced over at Ayame. The girl was staring at him with her hands on her hips. "What?" asked Soma. Was she going to yell at him because he wasn't like everyone else and cooing and talking to these kids? He had only come down here because everyone else was going to be here. He did not want to deal with children.

Ayame let out another sigh. "Nothing is going to happen, is it?" She turned her back to Soma. "Hey Aria!"

Aria looked up. "What's up Ayame?"

Ayame looked back at Soma. He stepped away from the wall, his danger instincts going off at full blast. What was this girl going to do?

Ayame turned back to Aria. "Can you and Soma hurry up and start dating? It's really painful to watch and I suspect that everyone here is just waiting for it to happen so can you both please put everyone else out of their misery?"

The area seemed to get dead silent. Soma could feel his face burning and he tugged the top of his hood down. "What the hell?" he grumbled.

"A…Ayame! Really!?" cried Aria. "That was uncalled for! Seriously Soma, don't listen to her, she says crazy things."

"I'm leaving," grumbled Soma, turning away. He headed for the elevator, painfully aware of the staring on his back. He pushed the button to call it to him. Damn it, what the hell was up with Ayame? Why did she say something like that!? Dating Aria of all people? Hell, dating anyone was something he never thought about doing. He had been always called a monster, he never could think of thoughts like that.

However things had changed when she had appeared. She had helped change the views of the people around him. She had always been by his side, fighting with him no matter what. He remembered her face as she slept soundly, when she had broken down, her Leader face. Everything, he remembered everything about her.

"Damn it, damn it," he growled. The elevator was almost here.

He whirled around and hurried back over to the group.

"Seriously Ayame, you can't say stuff like that!" Aria scolded. She broke off as Soma approached.

He walked over to her side and grasped her arm and pulled her to her feet. "Come on."

"Awww, Soma is kidnapping her, how cute."

Soma glared at Lindow. He finally understood what Lindow had been talking about that day and it pissed him off that Lindow had figured it out a lot earlier than he had.

"Come on kids, let's cheer them on," put in Alisa. "Let's clap."

Kota joined in the clapping.

Soma hated these guys. "Let's get out of here." He focused his attention on the ground as he pulled Aria along with him. She didn't protest or fight as he led her in the elevator and took her up to their living quarters floor.

Realizing he was still holding her arm, he released her. "Oh, sorry."

"Oh, don't worry about it," she replied quickly. "But yeah…Ayame's statement…a bit inappropriate there. I'll talk to her about it. Pull rank. I know that was probably very uncomfortable for you."

Soma stared at her and realized that Ayame was right. Nothing would happen. It would taken him much longer to figure it out and even then would he actually act on it? He could not say. All he could say was what he would do right now.

"What…" he began.

She stopped talking and looked up at him expectantly. "What?" she prompted.

"What if Ayame was right?" Damn it. He rubbed the back of his neck. He would rather face a pack of Vajras right now than be in this situation.

"If Ayame was right?" whispered Aria. Her magenta eyes seemed to have more of a pink look to them today. "Soma…you're saying…"

"I don't know much about this kind of stuff," he mumbled. "But I think it would be easy to learn…or something like that." Wasn't this kind of moment supposed to be filled with fireworks or something? Damn, he felt like he said the whole thing wrong.

"Soma, I'm sorry…"

Damn it. Did he just make a fool of himself? What the hell was he doing, actually confessing his feelings to her when he didn't know how she felt about this? What if she just went along to be nice? She was the type to do that so he wouldn't lose face in public.

"But give me a moment to process this correctly."

What kind of reaction was that? He stared at her. She had a wide grin on her face. It actually looked a bit creepy. "Uh Aria?"

"Ilikeyoutoo."

Soma stared at her. "Sorry?" Her words sounded jumbled together. He didn't understand a word she had said. He sighed. "Aria, you don't need to push yourself if you don't…"

He jumped slightly as she reached out and grasped his hands in her own. That creepy grin on her face was not helping situations much. "Sorry," she replied. She took a few deep breaths and looked up at him. "I like you too," she replied. "I've liked you for a long time actually."

Wait what? He stared at her. "What do you mean by a long time?" He could feel his face heating up by the way she was staring at him.

She gently ran her thumbs along his knuckles. She lowered her head. "I can't tell you exactly but I guess it happened after Shio joined us."

That long? "You have liked me for that long?" he whispered.

"Don't say it like that now," she laughed. "You're making me sound sad and desperate." She released his hands and grinned at him. "As your Leader, I give you permission to date me."

"Is that right?" Soma chuckled.

"You know that now you're going to have to win Jun over. I don't think pinning him to a wall did any good for his impression of you."

"He'll live with it," grumbled Soma. He jumped as Aria slipped her hand into his.

It was a foreign feeling but nice. He gripped her hand tighter. "I…I'll try my best and stuff…" Maybe he should have paid attention to the various advice Lindow had given out over the years of what one did with a girl.

She giggled. "Don't worry, I think you'll get the hang of this thing soon enough. You want to have some tea? I have some leftover herbs in my room from last time."

"Sure, but don't you go falling asleep on me this time."

"Hey now! I was tired alright!"

* * *

><p><em>Epilogue<em>

"Hey Soma, you busy?"

Soma looked up to see Aria standing in the doorway of his room. Her hands were hidden behind her back. She was clad in a red hoodie. It was a present he had given her for their third month anniversary of dating. He would never admit it to her but he had gotten it for her because he was uncomfortable with seeing her arms so much. Lindow(who had helped Soma get it for her) said it was because Soma had an arm fetish. Soma had to disagree. The tank tops she wore did not suit her. The hoodie fit her so much better.

"Not at all," replied Soma. "What's up Aria?"

She grinned and pulled a box out from behind her back. "Ta-da! I got you something!"

Soma blinked in surprise and checked the calendar. Damn it, did he miss an anniversary or something? No it was the middle of the month."

"Don't look so surprised, I can buy you stuff when I want to!" she protested. She walked over to him and handed the box. "I saw this in the store and I knew I had to get it for you. I got it all rigged up so you can wear it right away."

Wear it? Soma opened the huge box and saw there was a white piece of clothing inside. He lifted it out of the box and stared at it. It was a white coat with yellow trimming. The Fenrir logo was on the back center.

"I thought it would fit you, you know," she put in. "I already had Licca put in the oracle cells so it could be used in battle."

"It doesn't have a hood," Soma said.

She played with the hem of her hoodie. "Well, I thought it would be a nice change of pace for you. I mean, that hood always covers your hair and I…kindalikeyourhair," she mumbled under her breath.

"You're turning red," Soma pointed out.

"No I'm not!" she protested. Her hands went to her cheeks and she took a few deep breaths. It was still impressive how she controlled her emotions like that. She was still struggling every now and then to open up to tell him what was bothering her but she was getting better, she was getting there slowly.

"Anyway, I should have asked you before buying it," she sighed. "I should have known you wouldn't like it. I just was excited by the prospect that we could match since you did buy this for me."

"No, I'll wear it," he said quickly. He shrugged off his blue coat before he slipped into the white one. He was surprised to find how well it fit. He lifted a hand to tug on a hood that wasn't there.

"You'll get used to it I guess?" she put in.

"Yeah, I'll get used to it"

_"First Unit, assemble at the bridge immediately. A Venus has been spotted in the area. I repeat…_" Hibari's voice echoed over the loudspeaker.

"Well, duty calls," said Aria. Already she had snapped into Leader mode. "Let's go Soma."

"Right behind you like always," he replied as he followed her out of the room.


End file.
